Panopticonism: The Power Of The Media

The medium is very important in the modern technological world. What we mean under media? According to Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message” (1967) shape of the medium sometimes is more important than the message which is transported by the medium. However, governments and authority can use the medium as a source of surveillance. They can implement ideas in the people minds and settle fear in the society. The medium shouldn’t be used as a force to control the humanity, and government and authorities are obliged to provide the freedom of speech and action.
In our world full of innovations all gadgets like cell phones, computers, tablets, musical players, electric watches, and cameras are the medium. The fact is that they are doing our
The idea of controlling inmates behaviors through punishing the fear of being watch was introduced by Michael Foucault in his book “Discipline and Punish” (1975). The main idea of “Panopticonism” is in the control of humanity through invisible forces. The government or authority is trying to surveillance population by new technologies. Cameras, bank cards, bus cards, passport (our unique number) and other technologies are interfering in our private lives. These physical representations of monitoring are also associating with fear or control. People are not sure if the cameras are working, however they are under fear of being watch. In this case social relationships are built on “fear” instead of “trust”. In addition, governments are collecting more and more personal information about each of us. For example, fingerprint at customs control or auto recharge money for a bus card with a credit card. The first example shows us that government is collecting information about people in fear of committing a crime by this person. If something will happen they will be able to easily identify the offender, but if someone will replace the evidences on your fingerprints then you will be in big troubles. The second one is representation of how the government can monitor human activity. The fact is that your cards have unique number so if someone will collect information about you he will easily recognize
In spite of that every day human rights are violated. In modern world some people are afraid of freedom of speech, because they can be added into the “list” for their words. The rights to privacy are violated due to security reasons. The law passed after 11 September gives authority to collect data on people without any reasons to suspect. This means that all calls both international and local can be recorded, doesn’t matter if the person involved in the offense. It means that this program is designed to watch for everyone. We are now living in the world where every interaction we have with technology creates a “footstep”. Even if we do not use computers or cell phones, but we buying something in person with cash. This data can be monitoring by seller, so everything we do leaves the shadow, which is constantly under