Peter Fletcher

  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK

October 10, 2007 by Peter Fletcher

PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK:

“Whenever individuals are being informally watched or listened to, they are somewhat inhibited by what they imagine others’ reactions to be. This is how informal social control works in groups. We tend to try not to upset the people around us, especially if they have the means to retaliate in some way. Gossip and other private communications are an ordinary part of both group and organizational office politics. In informal conversation it’s one person’s word against another’s as to what was said and by whom. A private comment can be publicly denied. However, once a conversation gets recorded (for example in a paper memo or in an e-mail message) it assumes a more formal existence. As people begin to suspect they’ll be held accountable for their spontaneous utterances, their freedom to express themselves is inhibited. While this may be an improvement in the case of malicious gossip, it also destroys the backstage area where so much of group work is actually done.”

This may give us a clue as to why so many organisations are keen for people to blog. Once a blog post is published, it is almost impossible to delete any trace of it from the net, and when people know their comments are “permanent” and they believe they are being read and watched, they tend to normalise their behaviour. Blogs, while being a powerful tool for democracy may also become a Deleuzian “society of control.”

Take a moment to share:

  • Tweet
  • Email

Related posts:

  1. PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK: “The source...
  2. Surveillance technologies in the work place: ETHICOMP 2004 ETHICOMP 2004: “Surveillance-capable technologies in the workplace: some evidence of...
  3. Valuating Privacy In this research article Huberman, Adar, and Fine propose that...
  4. Matt Cutts disagrees with Privacy International Matt Cutts, head of Google’s web spam team is not...
  5. Facebook’s Privacy Trainwreck Here’s a few comments on an article from Convergence: The...

Filed Under: Privacy Tagged With: Privacy, surveillance

About Peter

Speaker, trainer and coach. I write about living, loving and working better. Love a challenge. More...

Subscribe

Get the latest posts delivered to your inbox.

Recent Posts

  • Perth property market report
  • Mandating madness: The case against compulsory e-conveyancing
  • PEXA: Stop treating conveyancers like idiots
  • Page 1 of 365
  • Looking back, looking forward

Top Posts & Pages

  • Why saying "You've got potential" can be the worst thing to say
  • Foucault on Confession
  • Foucault on power relations
  • What Jack and the Beanstalk can teach you about the value of achieving goals
  • Page 1 of 365
  • Why I'm interested in self-writing and the hupomnemata
  • Lisa Barone on becoming a more prolific writer
  • Slow-to-act hairdresser loses unfair dismissal claim
  • The Jacob's Ladder 5000 lap challenge update
  • Legends of The Ladder - Greg Williams

Location

You can find me at Residential Settlements in Burswood.

5/170 Burswood Road
Burswood WA 6100

Let’s catch up

If you're ready to take your business to the next level, get in touch with me now.

Send me an email using the contact form or call me direct on 0419 538 838.

Connect

Connect with me on one of these social networks.
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 · Agency Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.