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Sousveillance

43 points · 9 comments · xeonmc

  1. goodmythical · · focus · HN ↗
    I don't see the need for a new word.

    Surveillance is the monitoring of one party by another unaware party.

    A company surveilling an individual and an individual surveilling a company is the same activity, despite one perhaps having potentially greater resources.

    I don't buy the claim that the root word meaning "above" means that we should mean that we need another word with a root word meaning "below" given that a so called "sousveiller" could in fact be recording from a place of advantage. (Either physically above a company or given the potential scheduling freedom of a dedicated and compelled freelancer.

    Is it sousveillance if one were to write a script logging every available source of one other who's registered a company and is the soul employee of said company? e.g. If some neckbeard "sousveills" every post of a sex worker that's working for a company they registered for their own tax purposes?

    Clearly not. The first might be suurveillance or possibly spying, and the second is clearly stalking.

    1. likeclockwork · · focus · HN ↗
      It's about power. Not about resources or entity type.
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