scholarly journals Policing Made Visible: Mobile Technologies and the Importance of Point of View

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 455-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Brucato

Cameras are ubiquitous and increasingly mobile. While CCTV has captured considerable attention by surveillance researchers, the new visibility of police activities is increasingly produced by incidental sousveillance and wearable on-officer camera systems. This article considers advocacy for policing’s new visibility, contrasting that of police accountability activists who film police with designers and early adopters of on-officer cameras. In both accounts, these devices promise accountability by virtue of their mechanical objectivity. However, to each party, accountability functions rather differently. By attending to the social and legal privileging of police officers’ perspectives, the article provides an explanation for design decisions that produced Taser’s AXON Flex on-officer cameras and for why police are embracing these new technologies. Critics of these cameras cite privacy concerns, officer discretion in operating cameras, and department disclosure of footage. Nonetheless, advocates of police accountability often presume more video documenting police use of force is always helpful. However, the utility of surveillance video is conditioned by point of view. Police agencies in the U.S. are rapidly adopting on-officer camera systems, because they acknowledge ubiquitous surveillance and that these devices aid in nullifying third-party documentation in favor of a perspective that favors officers. As such, these cameras are counter-sousveillance technologies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
LUIS ADRIAN LASSO CARDONA

Introduction: This bibliographic review article is the product of research on new technological trends, focusing on citizen security, carried out at the SIEL research hotbed of the Universidad del Valle-Buga headquarters, Colombia in 2019. Problem: Investigate the new technological trends aimed at the citizen security sector. Objective: Identify the new technological trends in the sector of citizen security, its application in the world and expose the current state in Colombia. Methodology: Documentary review of primary sources of the last 5 years, such as; scientific articles, government pages, laws, press releases and recognized newspapers. Results: Since MinTIC was created in Colombia, in partnership with different government entities, society in general has benefited from projects in areas such as education, health, housing and security. The modernization of control institutions in Colombia is evident being the security sector one of the most advantageous. Conclusion: In general terms, sectors such as technology and education are still lagging behind. As for the security sector, there is no doubt the effort and progress in research and development of new technologies present in the vast majority of government entities. Originality: new technological trends are investigated from the point of view of citizen security in several application scenarios. Limitations: For the most part, the review focuses on aspects of citizen security, indicating very little the social field


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (97) ◽  
pp. 241-264
Author(s):  
Edvalter Becker Holz

Abstract This essay expands upon the debate on sociomateriality with a critique of the current ontological agenda. Based upon the influential literature from the fields of management and organization studies, and information systems, it presents the emergence, the development, the consolidation and the popularization of the debate on the relations between the social and the material in organizations. Drawing on this trajectory, the paper suggests that the current agenda for a sociomaterial ontology is constituted predominantly through rhetorical uses of the notion of ontology. The relevance of this contribution lies in questioning the supposed development of a sociomaterial ontology, describing and exemplifying its rhetorical strategies: authorial randomness, theoretical centrifugation, and conceptual procrastination. It concludes that it is necessary to return to the phenomenon as relevant “in” the debate from the point of view of its trajectory: the diffusion of new technologies and the subsequent implications at the organizational and social levels. The main implication for future research is the adoption of pragmatic ontologies with the aim of restoring the primacy of the phenomenon over the ontology.


2021 ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
Paola Inverardi

AbstractAutonomous systems make decisions independently or on behalf of the user. This will happen more and more in the future, with the widespread use of AI technologies in the fabric of the society that impacts on the social, economic, and political sphere. Automating services and processes inevitably impacts on the users’ prerogatives and puts at danger their autonomy and privacy. From a societal point of view, it is crucial to understand which is the space of autonomy that a system can exercise without compromising laws and human rights. Following the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies 2018 recommendation, the chapter addresses the problem of preserving the value of human dignity in the context of the digital society, understood as the recognition that a person is worthy of respect in her interaction with autonomous technologies. A person must be able to exercise control on information about herself and on the decisions that autonomous systems make on her behalf.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (97) ◽  
pp. 241-264
Author(s):  
Edvalter Becker Holz

Abstract This essay expands upon the debate on sociomateriality with a critique of the current ontological agenda. Based upon the influential literature from the fields of management and organization studies, and information systems, it presents the emergence, the development, the consolidation and the popularization of the debate on the relations between the social and the material in organizations. Drawing on this trajectory, the paper suggests that the current agenda for a sociomaterial ontology is constituted predominantly through rhetorical uses of the notion of ontology. The relevance of this contribution lies in questioning the supposed development of a sociomaterial ontology, describing and exemplifying its rhetorical strategies: authorial randomness, theoretical centrifugation, and conceptual procrastination. It concludes that it is necessary to return to the phenomenon as relevant “in” the debate from the point of view of its trajectory: the diffusion of new technologies and the subsequent implications at the organizational and social levels. The main implication for future research is the adoption of pragmatic ontologies with the aim of restoring the primacy of the phenomenon over the ontology.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael S. M. De Plaen ◽  
Víctor Hugo Márquez-Ramírez ◽  
Xyoli Pérez-Campos ◽  
Francisco Ramón Zuñiga Davila-Madrid ◽  
Quetzalcoatl Rodríguez-Pérez ◽  
...  

Abstract. Seismometers have detected the social response to lockdown measures implemented following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in cities around the world. This long-lasting lockdown has been a particular challenge in countries such as Mexico, where the informal economy constitutes most of the working population. This context motivated the monitoring of the mobility of populations throughout the various phases of lockdown measures, independently from people's access to the internet and mobile technologies. Here we use the variation of anthropogenic seismic noise in the city of Querétaro (central Mexico) recorded by a network of low-cost Raspberry Shake seismic stations to study the spatial and temporal variation of human activity in the city throughout the pandemic and during sportive events. The results emphasize the importance of densifying urban seismic networks and tracking human activities without the privacy concerns associated with mobile technologies.


Author(s):  
Damir Dobrinić ◽  
Iva Gregurec ◽  
Dunja Dobrinić

Ad personalization is becoming the dominant promotional tactic, further enhanced by new technologies applications. Greater efficiency is the main goal of such an advertising approach, but it can cause the appearance of the so-called “privacy paradox” that can induce negative consumer reactions in terms of avoiding such ads. This paper investigates the factors influencing the avoidance of personalized ads communicated through the social network Facebook. Part of the research model deals with the impact of perceived personalization, perceived irritation, and perceived privacy concerns on skepticism towards advertising and advertising avoidance. Furthermore, the empirical research was conducted on data collected through the Facebook and WhatsApp mobile applications. Following the obtained results, there is no negative effect of perceived personalization to skepticism towards advertising while it exists toward advertising avoidance. Furthermore, a positive effect of perceived irritation to skepticism towards advertising does not exist, but positive effects to ad avoidance do. The direct positive effect of perceived privacy concerns to skepticism and ad avoidance was not found. Also, skepticism about personalized ads was found not to be positively associated with avoiding personalized ads. In addition to new insights, the results can help design and implement promotional campaigns through social media technologies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Tanner ◽  
Michaël Meyer

Mobile technologies have brought about major changes in police equipment and police work. If a utopian narrative remains strongly linked to the adoption of new technologies, often formulated as ‘magic bullets’ to real occupational problems, there are important tensions between their ‘imagined’ outcomes and the (unexpected) effects that accompany their daily ‘practical’ use by police officers. This article offers an analysis of police officers’ perceptions and interactions with security devices. In so doing, it develops a conceptual typology of strategies for coping with new technology inspired by Le Bourhis and Lascoumes: challenging, neutralizing and diverting. To that purpose, we adopt an ethnographic approach that focuses on the discourses, practices and actions of police officers in relation to three security devices: the mobile digital terminal, the mobile phone and the body camera. Based on a case study of a North American municipal police department, the article addresses how these technological devices are perceived and experienced by police officers on the beat.


First Monday ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew X. Curinga

There is a long standing, and unsettled debate surrounding the ways that technology influences society. There is strong scholarship supporting the social construction perspective, arguing that the effects of technology are wholly socially and politically determined. This paper argues that the social constructivist position needs to be expanded if it can be useful for more than observing the ways technologies are designed and used. We need to develop better ways to talk about software, computer hardware, and networks, so that we can describe the social interpretations of these systems while accounting for their unique characteristics. We suggest using software affordances as a way to understand the semantics of software as interactive systems. Using Facebook privacy concerns as a case study, we argue that software affordances offer a useful lens for considering the social and political implications of interactive software systems, providing us more analytical tools to interpret, and not just describe, new technologies.


Author(s):  
Youmna El Hissi ◽  
Zakaria Benjouid ◽  
Abdelkrim Haqiq ◽  
Leila Loukili Idrissi

This article describes how the landscape of higher education in Morocco has undergone several changes in its organization; hence universities are called upon to strengthen their modes of governance by using new technologies as communication management devices. At the same time, and in a national context of sustainable development, universities are encouraged to adopt a culture of social responsibility like companies and other organizations to promote the notion of citizenship. This article aims to show that the Moroccan university can adopt a sustainable management practice through the establishment of an Information System to ensure and strengthen its governance. The authors focus on the experience of the Moroccan universities in the implementation of the MISSION project which aims at improving the governance of the Moroccan university from a technological point of view.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bayram Unal

This study deals with survival strategies of illegal migrants in Turkey. It aims to provide an explanation for the efforts to keep illegality sustainable for one specific ethnic/national group—that is, the Gagauz of Moldova, who are of Turkish ethnic origin. In order to explicate the advantages of Turkish ethnic origin, I will focus on their preferential treatment at state-law level and in terms of the implementation of the law by police officers. In a remarkable way, the juridical framework has introduced legal ways of dealing with the illegality of ethnically Turkish migrants. From the viewpoint of migration, the presence of strategic tools of illegality forces us to ask not so much law-related questions, but to turn to a sociological inquiry of how and why they overstay their visas. Therefore, this study concludes that it is the social processes behind their illegality, rather than its form, that is more important for our understanding of the migrants’ survival strategies in destination countries.


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