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We See It All: Liberty and Justice in an Age of Perpetual Surveillance
This investigation into the legal, political, and moral issues surrounding how the police and justice system use surveillance technology asks the what are citizens of a free country willing to tolerate in the name of public safety? As we rethink the scope of police power, Jon Fasman’s chilling examination of how the police and the justice system use the unparalleled power of surveillance technology—how it affects privacy, liberty, and civil rights—becomes more urgent by the day. Embedding himself within police departments on both coasts, Fasman explores the moral, legal, and political questions posed by these techniques and tools.
By zeroing in on how facial recognition, automatic license-plate readers, drones, predictive algorithms, and encryption affect us personally, Fasman vividly illustrates what is at stake and explains how to think through issues of privacy rights, civil liberties, and public safety. How do these technologies impact how police operate in our society? How should archaic privacy laws written for an obsolete era—that of the landline and postbox—be updated?
Fasman looks closely at what can happen when surveillance technologies are combined and put in the hands of governments with scant regard for citizens’ civil liberties, pushing us to Is our democratic culture strong enough to stop us from turning into China, with its architecture of control?
By zeroing in on how facial recognition, automatic license-plate readers, drones, predictive algorithms, and encryption affect us personally, Fasman vividly illustrates what is at stake and explains how to think through issues of privacy rights, civil liberties, and public safety. How do these technologies impact how police operate in our society? How should archaic privacy laws written for an obsolete era—that of the landline and postbox—be updated?
Fasman looks closely at what can happen when surveillance technologies are combined and put in the hands of governments with scant regard for citizens’ civil liberties, pushing us to Is our democratic culture strong enough to stop us from turning into China, with its architecture of control?
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 26, 2021
28 people are currently reading
842 people want to read
About the author
Jon Fasman
8 books25 followersI am the author of "The Geographer's Library" (2005) and "The Unpossessed City" (2008), both published by The Penguin Press.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 16, 2020
I am required to immediately love books with chapter titles like "The China Problem" followed by "The Oakland Solution". Beyond that this is a good, up to date, overview of the surveillance state apparatus being built and used. Some of it's only used in Ecuador or China, The African Union or Juarez. But what is being used? What is available on the market and how do our local police departments decide what to use?
I had some immediate issues with his perspective "Built into any humane system of laws is a contradiction. On one hand, we want laws to be enforced fairly and objectively. It offends our sense of justice when one person gets away with something for which another is punished. On the other hand, we want some space for disobedience." On this basis he resists surveillance because it endangers this room for disobedience while I resist the demand for obedience themselves. In a similar vein he posits "If not being subject to an eternally vigilant network of cameras every time I walk down a street means that I might occasionally have an infinitesimally higher chance of being mugged or assaulted, I'll accept that risk." He's speaking from the community least at risk of being mugged or assaulted. I'm not sure I disagree with him, but his dismissal rankles. A contrarian instinct demands I say: the sexual assault conviction rate is troubling. I'm not for a fully surveilled society however, and political quibbles aside this has good information for anyone considering the state of surveillance.
One extremely relevant issue is the surveillance of protests as a police deterrent to the First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. it brings up all kinds of thoughts. Does that mean surveillance of peaceful organizers(thinking of various Black liberation groups) is in itself a rights violation before they've even made the arrest or especially if they haven't made an arrest? Also, maybe I need more privacy screens for my yard if stuff seen from over a fence with a drone counts. And now it's being revealed that here in San Francisco a network of private security cameras was shared with the SFPD during the Black Lives Matter protests, with ongoing discussion of the legitimacy of that sharing.
Mostly this isn't a book about the politics of surveillance as much as the mechanics and governance of surveillance - and if you're being watched, don't you want to know how that works?
Read for free through NetGalley in exchange for a review, and Kobo Aura for an instrument.
I had some immediate issues with his perspective "Built into any humane system of laws is a contradiction. On one hand, we want laws to be enforced fairly and objectively. It offends our sense of justice when one person gets away with something for which another is punished. On the other hand, we want some space for disobedience." On this basis he resists surveillance because it endangers this room for disobedience while I resist the demand for obedience themselves. In a similar vein he posits "If not being subject to an eternally vigilant network of cameras every time I walk down a street means that I might occasionally have an infinitesimally higher chance of being mugged or assaulted, I'll accept that risk." He's speaking from the community least at risk of being mugged or assaulted. I'm not sure I disagree with him, but his dismissal rankles. A contrarian instinct demands I say: the sexual assault conviction rate is troubling. I'm not for a fully surveilled society however, and political quibbles aside this has good information for anyone considering the state of surveillance.
One extremely relevant issue is the surveillance of protests as a police deterrent to the First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. it brings up all kinds of thoughts. Does that mean surveillance of peaceful organizers(thinking of various Black liberation groups) is in itself a rights violation before they've even made the arrest or especially if they haven't made an arrest? Also, maybe I need more privacy screens for my yard if stuff seen from over a fence with a drone counts. And now it's being revealed that here in San Francisco a network of private security cameras was shared with the SFPD during the Black Lives Matter protests, with ongoing discussion of the legitimacy of that sharing.
Mostly this isn't a book about the politics of surveillance as much as the mechanics and governance of surveillance - and if you're being watched, don't you want to know how that works?
Read for free through NetGalley in exchange for a review, and Kobo Aura for an instrument.
January 25, 2023
A nice overview of surveillance technology that is known to the public - but as the book highlights, it is more what remains unknown that prompts more concern. Particularly as this book would almost be considered out of date given the speed of the technology.
September 14, 2021
Overview on how police surveillance is destroying civil liberties.
Read
March 9, 2021[A] deeply reported and sometimes chilling look at mass surveillance technologies in the American justice system … Fasman avoids alarmism while making a strong case for greater public awareness and tighter regulations around these technologies. This illuminating account issues an essential warning about a rising threat to America’s civil liberties.
Publishers Weekly
A cogent critique of the age of ubiquitous surveillance … An urgent examination of police-state intrusions on the privacy of lawful and law-abiding citizens.
Kirkus Reviews
If you want to understand the stakes and the landscape of surveillance in your life — yes, yours right now — We See It All is an outstanding place to start. Fasman walks his readers through a meticulously balanced review of how police, corporations, local businesses, governments, and ordinary people conspire to exchange real privacy for the feeling of safety. An evocative storyteller, Fasman lays out his case that, because government regulation lags impossibly behind technological advances, the only salve for our predicament is collective awareness. And collective action. The writing is sober and sobering. And, though the recent fires of Minneapolis, Atlanta, Portland, and the nation have not centred squarely on surveillance, Fasman argues convincingly that the next ones very well might.
Phillip Atiba Goff, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Policing Equity, and professor of African American studies and psychology at Yale University
This powerful, engrossing book will challenge your assumptions about persistent surveillance. Jon Fasman makes a clear case for civil liberties and explains how our laws and public safety infrastructure must keep pace with the advancement of technology. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the future and the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence, data, encryption and recognition technology.
Amy Webb, founder of The Future Today Institute, author of The Big Nine and The Signals are Talking
Jon Fasman has given us a stellar account of the use of surveillance technologies by the police. It's comprehensive, even-handed, informative, and fun to read.
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg professor at New York University School of Law
This lively book is a call to action.
David Anderson, Literary Review
Publishers Weekly
A cogent critique of the age of ubiquitous surveillance … An urgent examination of police-state intrusions on the privacy of lawful and law-abiding citizens.
Kirkus Reviews
If you want to understand the stakes and the landscape of surveillance in your life — yes, yours right now — We See It All is an outstanding place to start. Fasman walks his readers through a meticulously balanced review of how police, corporations, local businesses, governments, and ordinary people conspire to exchange real privacy for the feeling of safety. An evocative storyteller, Fasman lays out his case that, because government regulation lags impossibly behind technological advances, the only salve for our predicament is collective awareness. And collective action. The writing is sober and sobering. And, though the recent fires of Minneapolis, Atlanta, Portland, and the nation have not centred squarely on surveillance, Fasman argues convincingly that the next ones very well might.
Phillip Atiba Goff, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Policing Equity, and professor of African American studies and psychology at Yale University
This powerful, engrossing book will challenge your assumptions about persistent surveillance. Jon Fasman makes a clear case for civil liberties and explains how our laws and public safety infrastructure must keep pace with the advancement of technology. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the future and the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence, data, encryption and recognition technology.
Amy Webb, founder of The Future Today Institute, author of The Big Nine and The Signals are Talking
Jon Fasman has given us a stellar account of the use of surveillance technologies by the police. It's comprehensive, even-handed, informative, and fun to read.
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg professor at New York University School of Law
This lively book is a call to action.
David Anderson, Literary Review
July 23, 2020
I have been working on traceability systems - for food - pretty much for three decades. When disaster strikes, people get sick or even die, we try to analyze what happened. We track the purchases the person did, what they ate and where it came from. Traceability systems save lives.
Current technology allows tracking and tracing movements of people, their vehicles and their biological features like never before. When properly used, the technology saves lives, and perhaps can even predict crime before it occurs. All well and good - so far.
However, nefarious people my use and abuse this very same technology to spy at their spouses, political rivals or people of different religious affiliation or sexual orientation.
This book follows in the footsteps of Brad Smith "Tools and Weapons". Most chapters take a discrete piece of technology, say drones or biometrics, and explain the good, the bad and the ugly of where the technology is, how it is used and how if could go wrong, very wrong.
A thrilling at times bone-chilling account on where technology is headed these days. Jon exaggerates at times where technology truly sits and what it really does, but it will just require a small step t0 make most of his writing a reality for us all.
Current technology allows tracking and tracing movements of people, their vehicles and their biological features like never before. When properly used, the technology saves lives, and perhaps can even predict crime before it occurs. All well and good - so far.
However, nefarious people my use and abuse this very same technology to spy at their spouses, political rivals or people of different religious affiliation or sexual orientation.
This book follows in the footsteps of Brad Smith "Tools and Weapons". Most chapters take a discrete piece of technology, say drones or biometrics, and explain the good, the bad and the ugly of where the technology is, how it is used and how if could go wrong, very wrong.
A thrilling at times bone-chilling account on where technology is headed these days. Jon exaggerates at times where technology truly sits and what it really does, but it will just require a small step t0 make most of his writing a reality for us all.
September 28, 2021
This book investigates how permanent surveillance is now prevalent in our everyday lives, and why this threatens our individual civil rights and out democratic way of governance
The author targets new technological breakthroughs over the past decade as the reason for the massive use of surveillance by state forces. Wether it is through facial recognition, automatic license-plate readers or drones, we are now being watched everywhere we go
While these new technologies, and the enormous amounts of data that they produce, help us to improve public safety and catch criminals, the book highlights that it is a very slippery slope as our state structures can now more easily trample over privacy and civil liberties
The author showcases how our current laws, policies and regulations are not up to date with our level of technology and he implores all of us to get more involved as a public citizenry in liberal democracies to ensure that we hold our police and public safety systems to account
This tremendous book demonstrates how technology is not going back into the proverbial box, and we must craft better policy through citizen participation if we are to continue to live in a free and open society. The alternative is a world suited for our worst nightmares
The author targets new technological breakthroughs over the past decade as the reason for the massive use of surveillance by state forces. Wether it is through facial recognition, automatic license-plate readers or drones, we are now being watched everywhere we go
While these new technologies, and the enormous amounts of data that they produce, help us to improve public safety and catch criminals, the book highlights that it is a very slippery slope as our state structures can now more easily trample over privacy and civil liberties
The author showcases how our current laws, policies and regulations are not up to date with our level of technology and he implores all of us to get more involved as a public citizenry in liberal democracies to ensure that we hold our police and public safety systems to account
This tremendous book demonstrates how technology is not going back into the proverbial box, and we must craft better policy through citizen participation if we are to continue to live in a free and open society. The alternative is a world suited for our worst nightmares
December 17, 2020
I would like to thank [[NetGalley]] and the author Jon Fasman for the opportunity to read this advance copy of the book.
This book looks at the various and rapidly expanding aspects of [[surveillance]] technology being deployed in society, and the risks to [[privacy]] they pose.
Technology is only as good as the people who develop it and those that use it or abuse it. The author tries hard to not automatically approach the topic from a negative side, but encourages the reader and society to carefully consider the implication of the technologies being used.
The material is very well researched by the author, and technical aspects are described in detail with good easy to understand examples.
Ultimately, the author strongly cautions society to carefully come up with clear guidelines for the use, application, and administration of surveillance technologies before they get too engrained in our midst or we may end up regretting our complacency.
This book looks at the various and rapidly expanding aspects of [[surveillance]] technology being deployed in society, and the risks to [[privacy]] they pose.
Technology is only as good as the people who develop it and those that use it or abuse it. The author tries hard to not automatically approach the topic from a negative side, but encourages the reader and society to carefully consider the implication of the technologies being used.
The material is very well researched by the author, and technical aspects are described in detail with good easy to understand examples.
Ultimately, the author strongly cautions society to carefully come up with clear guidelines for the use, application, and administration of surveillance technologies before they get too engrained in our midst or we may end up regretting our complacency.
January 24, 2021
Very interesting non-fiction, packed with real-life examples and stories. While the author describes many new technologies, his main focus is on legislature, policies and practices connected to any kind of electronic surveillance tools. He gives us a warning, picturing what can happen if we remain oblivious to the growing capabilities of governments and law enforcement, but also a solution - how we should exercise our democratic rights and in particular how to protect our privacy rights.
It is written in a vivid, engaging style - I liked most the parts with first-person reporting, especially the chapter about "China's exported surveillance state" implementation in Ecuador.
Thanks to the publisher, Perseus Books, PublicAffairs, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.
It is written in a vivid, engaging style - I liked most the parts with first-person reporting, especially the chapter about "China's exported surveillance state" implementation in Ecuador.
Thanks to the publisher, Perseus Books, PublicAffairs, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.
January 28, 2021
We See It All: Liberty and Justice in an Age of Perpetual Surveillance (Hardcover)
by Jon Fasman
heard au on the radio
trans here https://www.npr.org/transcripts/96110...
ordered from the library this date
there is an audio edition but it is not available (yet ) in Worldcat
from Worldcat:
Abstract: "An investigation into the legal, political, and moral issues surrounding how the police and justice system use surveillance technology, asking the question: what are citizens of a free country willing to tolerate in the name of public safety? Jon Fasman looks at how these technologies help police do their jobs, and what their use means for our privacy rights and civil liberties"--
by Jon Fasman
heard au on the radio
trans here https://www.npr.org/transcripts/96110...
ordered from the library this date
there is an audio edition but it is not available (yet ) in Worldcat
from Worldcat:
Abstract: "An investigation into the legal, political, and moral issues surrounding how the police and justice system use surveillance technology, asking the question: what are citizens of a free country willing to tolerate in the name of public safety? Jon Fasman looks at how these technologies help police do their jobs, and what their use means for our privacy rights and civil liberties"--
October 11, 2021
Its not that the book isn’t good, the author is very well informed and the research behind it is extremely thorough. Its just not what i was expecting.
It comes through as very paranoid, like all surveillance tech is designed just to gather data on private citizens, I understand the need for oversight but (and mostly in the US) I tend to trust the use of police technology and do consider it useful in eliminating bias and racism from everyday policing.
It comes through as very paranoid, like all surveillance tech is designed just to gather data on private citizens, I understand the need for oversight but (and mostly in the US) I tend to trust the use of police technology and do consider it useful in eliminating bias and racism from everyday policing.
February 24, 2024
This read more like a summary rather than a complete book. If I had a dollar for every time "civil liberties" appeared in this book. It felt like an overview without much depth, and read very American, you'd be able to get the same kid of overview doing an internet deep dive into the surveillance mentioned.
April 25, 2021
This is not a "feel good" book! It feels a bit like reading of a dystopia, but you realize it is going on around us right now. It certainly evokes concern about where societies today are quickly moving towards and the significant effects this will have on people - and government power.
August 31, 2020
A gripping read not of what could be as it pertains to the multitude of ways that we are tracked, but what is
November 15, 2021
Amerikā viss slikti-skynets nāk!
December 28, 2021
Not as in depth as I thought it'd be. Didn't really learn much from this, so it often was boring.
May 11, 2022
Not particularly insightful and nothing you haven't read about in the news.
October 17, 2023
A pretty moderate argument arguing for greater oversight and transparency of digital surveillance by both government and companies.
March 4, 2024
Some excellent critiques of mass surveillance, but from a neoliberal lens, so do with that what you will.
January 1, 2025
The author asks questions most people wouldn’t think about and has some cool ideas.
Read
March 9, 2021[A] deeply reported and sometimes chilling look at mass surveillance technologies in the American justice system … Fasman avoids alarmism while making a strong case for greater public awareness and tighter regulations around these technologies. This illuminating account issues an essential warning about a rising threat to America’s civil liberties.
Publishers Weekly
A cogent critique of the age of ubiquitous surveillance … An urgent examination of police-state intrusions on the privacy of lawful and law-abiding citizens.
Kirkus Reviews
If you want to understand the stakes and the landscape of surveillance in your life — yes, yours right now — We See It All is an outstanding place to start. Fasman walks his readers through a meticulously balanced review of how police, corporations, local businesses, governments, and ordinary people conspire to exchange real privacy for the feeling of safety. An evocative storyteller, Fasman lays out his case that, because government regulation lags impossibly behind technological advances, the only salve for our predicament is collective awareness. And collective action. The writing is sober and sobering. And, though the recent fires of Minneapolis, Atlanta, Portland, and the nation have not centred squarely on surveillance, Fasman argues convincingly that the next ones very well might.
Phillip Atiba Goff, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Policing Equity, and professor of African American studies and psychology at Yale University
This powerful, engrossing book will challenge your assumptions about persistent surveillance. Jon Fasman makes a clear case for civil liberties and explains how our laws and public safety infrastructure must keep pace with the advancement of technology. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the future and the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence, data, encryption and recognition technology.
Amy Webb, founder of The Future Today Institute, author of The Big Nine and The Signals are Talking
Jon Fasman has given us a stellar account of the use of surveillance technologies by the police. It's comprehensive, even-handed, informative, and fun to read.
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg professor at New York University School of Law
This lively book is a call to action.
David Anderson, Literary Review
Publishers Weekly
A cogent critique of the age of ubiquitous surveillance … An urgent examination of police-state intrusions on the privacy of lawful and law-abiding citizens.
Kirkus Reviews
If you want to understand the stakes and the landscape of surveillance in your life — yes, yours right now — We See It All is an outstanding place to start. Fasman walks his readers through a meticulously balanced review of how police, corporations, local businesses, governments, and ordinary people conspire to exchange real privacy for the feeling of safety. An evocative storyteller, Fasman lays out his case that, because government regulation lags impossibly behind technological advances, the only salve for our predicament is collective awareness. And collective action. The writing is sober and sobering. And, though the recent fires of Minneapolis, Atlanta, Portland, and the nation have not centred squarely on surveillance, Fasman argues convincingly that the next ones very well might.
Phillip Atiba Goff, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Policing Equity, and professor of African American studies and psychology at Yale University
This powerful, engrossing book will challenge your assumptions about persistent surveillance. Jon Fasman makes a clear case for civil liberties and explains how our laws and public safety infrastructure must keep pace with the advancement of technology. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the future and the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence, data, encryption and recognition technology.
Amy Webb, founder of The Future Today Institute, author of The Big Nine and The Signals are Talking
Jon Fasman has given us a stellar account of the use of surveillance technologies by the police. It's comprehensive, even-handed, informative, and fun to read.
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg professor at New York University School of Law
This lively book is a call to action.
David Anderson, Literary Review
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews