| Description |
xii, 273 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Life in the glass box -- Antebellum ID : genealogies of identification and registration -- The accumulation of bodies, Part 1 : Identification and photography -- The accumulation of bodies, Part 2 : Early biometrics -- Cruel Gan Saan : surveillance and Chinese exclusion -- Of ones and zeros : digital surveillance emerges -- Surveillance and the sinews of commerce -- Camera land : security aesthetics and public space -- The digital leash : mobility and freedom -- The new Taylorism : surveillance, work, and discipline -- The benevolent gaze : dossiers and the helping professions -- The eye of justice -- Voyeurism and security culture -- Fear as institution : 9/11 and surveillance triumphant. |
| Summary |
"The Soft Cage explores the hidden history of surveillance - from controlling slaves in the old South to implementing early criminal justice, tracking immigrants, and closely monitoring the poor as part of modern social work. It also explores the role computers play in creating a whole new world of seemingly benign technologies - such as credit cards, website "cookies," electronic toll collection, "data mining," and iris scanners at airports.". |
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"With fears of personal and national security at an all-time high, this ever-growing infrastructure of high-tech voyeurism is shifting the balance of power between individuals and the state in groundbreaking - and very dangerous - ways. From closed-circuit television cameras to the Department of Homeland Security, The Soft Cage offers a compelling, vitally important history lesson for every American concerned about the expansion of surveillance into our public and private lives."--BOOK JACKET. |
| Subject |
Social control -- United States -- History.
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Electronic surveillance -- Social aspects -- United States.
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Political culture -- United States.
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Privacy, Right of -- United States.
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War on Terrorism, 2001-2009.
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| ISBN |
0465054846 |
|
9780465054848 |
|
0465054854 (pbk.) |
|
9780465054855 (pbk.) |
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