Power Through the Use of Technology

"The Power of Technology"

The Connection Technology and Powers

    Technology is an item created with scientific knowledge, in order to assist day-to-day life. Technology can be traced back to tools such as hammers, the printing press, and lightbulbs. However, when we think of technology today, with think about the electronics that are in our house and at our fingertips. Being born in 2002 means that I have never truly known a life without phones, the internet, and social media. I truly don't know what life could be life without it. However, I have seen developments in these electronics, such as facial recognition and surveillance. In this post, I will be discussing how governments use technology as a way to gain more power.

    In order to make this post, I first sat down and watched a documentary about the surveillance put in place by the Chinese government. In this documentary, it was discussed how China is using surveillance cameras, which have incredible facial recognition, to keep track of the behaviors of their citizens. One of the main goals of the government was to have "complete coverage in all major public places, such as train stations, street intersections and parks" (7:04). The reason why the Chinese government is using surveillance cameras and personal technologies is to reward good behaviors and punish bad behaviors.

Surveillance and Normative Powers

    As I discussed in my last post, normative powers, created by Michel Foucault, are the idea that individuals will display good behaviors because they want to. While I think there are many arguments to show how this surveillance is not part of normative power, I want to first discuss why it is. First off, individuals are motivated to grab these personal electronics because it benefits them. At timestamp 21:07, we see a little girl paying for her food using a smartwatch. This is just one example of how electronics make our lives easier. You can pay, study, and entertain yourself much faster with the use of personal electronics. In my own life, technology has made my life easy by its music accessibility. In less than 3 minutes, I can download a free copy of a piece that I am studying, one in the public domain. Without electronics or the internet, I would need to go to a bookstore or music store and physically buy a copy. This is just one way that I am motivated to have my own electronics, because of its accessibility. A big way that normative powers is used in surveillance is the fact that the Chinese government is rewarding those who follow the rules. It was mentioned how there is a point system and the "better you score, the more advantages you have in your life." (21:40). It was discussed, and I do agree, that this system motivates individuals to voluntarily follow the rules. Another aspect that is seen is through the app, TikTok. If you go on the app, you may notice that certain topics are shadow-banned, meaning that the app will not promote that content. In an example, which will be further explained in a later comment, it is shown how, when talking about "stealing", they used the word "borrowed" instead. This is because they want their content to be seen, and using words around the topic of theft will mean that it gets hidden. The purpose of shadow banning is that there is a difference in "what becomes popular versus what is made to disappear" (14:51). This idea will motivate individuals to make different content, in order to get their 10 seconds of fame. In my own opinion, this is a great example of how normative powers work. People follow rules put in place out of their own doing because they earn personal satisfaction throughout it. 

Negatives Regarding Surveillance

    While I did spend the previous paragraph discussing how normative powers are connected through the use of electronics and surveillance, I personally believe that a lot of the surveillance shown is unethical and uses repressive powers. First off, through the documentary and through brief research, the use of surveillance can often target certain groups, often minorities. In the documentary, they discussed how facial recognition can also recognize race. This means that their systems can "send an alert to Chinese police if a person appears to be from the Muslim Uyghur minority group" (40:14). This fact uses power to put fear in minorities that they may be watched more carefully than others, simply due to their skin color or facial features. Another issue is that certain groups may feel as if they are being watched for personal use. What I mean by this is that a lot of female-identifying individuals feel uncomfortable being under surveillance, as they worry that any footage could be used for sexualization. In a study I read, it showed how more women are to feel uncomfortable being watched at work due to any kind of power imbalance. One of the ending statements said that "surveillance technologies tend to increase gender inequality in social contexts already marked by sexist power relations" (Stark et. al, p. 1084). Both of these examples show how surveillance is used to put fear in minorities' heads. Even beyond that, surveillance puts fear in everyone's heads. Under the view of the Chinese government, individuals are unable to speak out against the Chinese government. This is because "people who openly criticize the Chinese government face imprisonment" (34:10). When I was watching the beginning of this documentary, I noticed how the surveillance cameras could easily catch and recognize individuals who were breaking the law, such as littering and not wearing masks. This reminded me of a TikTok that I was served this morning regarding Target Surveillance. Attached to this link is the TikTok, please spend some time watching it. This TikToker mentioned how Target has high-quality cameras and facial recognition. If you steal, you get put into a record across all Targets, and they keep a watch on you. If you end up stealing past a certain amount, they will call the cops on you and arrest you for grand theft. What really interested me was looking at the comments. Many people say that they are now "terrified" even though they have never "borrowed" anything. To me, this was a great example of repressive powers, as it is causing people to be afraid of stealing, rather than not stealing because it is the right thing to do. 

TikTok

    To round off this discussion, I actually want to discuss TikTok. It is an app that so many people have come to love, but there are huge discussions regarding this app. Out of recent news, it has become clear that there is very likely going to be a ban of the app in the states, unless the CEO sells the app. The reason why the US government wants to either have control of the app or ban it is due to surveillance issues, they have worry in the fact that "classified and unclassified national security assessments show that the app is a threat to use privacy and that it's been used to target journalists and interfere in elections" (Allyn and Walsh). The worry regards the fact that TikTok is a Chinese app, and that the data that is collected will be used against them. Through the documentary, it is shown that the network does scan "through personal data in the background. The approximate location, the cellphone model, and, of course, every single like and comment" (12:24). The U.S. government worries that this information will be used to attack the U.S.

    At the end of the day, it is clear how much technology continues to advance. However, with the improvements of surveillance, it is very clear we are creating a fearful environment. Individuals are afraid to do anything because they worry that they will be punished for bad behavior. This idea, in my opinion, goes against Foucault's idea of normative powers. If we had constant eyes on us, society would live life in constant fear. Within a life of constant fear comes individuals who fight against the government. I believe it is very likely that a war against the government would start if we were living life under the watchful eyes of the governement.

References

Download free PNG photo images Clipart. FreePNGImg. (n.d.). https://freepngimg.com/

Make your day. TikTok. (n.d.). https://www.tiktok.com/@reddnea/video/7330802207882890526?q=target+stealing+system+explained&t=1711920755134

SSSTik.io. (n.d.). TikTok downloader - download TikTok Video without watermark online. https://ssstik.io/en

Stark, L., Stanhaus, A., & Anthony, D. L. (2020). “I don’t want someone to watch me while I’m working”: Gendered views of facial recognition technology in workplace surveillance. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 71(9), 1074–1088. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24342

Techno FAQ. (n.d.). https://technofaq.org/

Walsh, D., & Allyn, B. (2024, March 13). Why the House voted to ban tiktok and what could come next. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/13/1237501725/house-vote-tiktok-ban