Sousveillance

“Sousveillance” is a response to the word surveillance. While many of us may be more familiar with the word surveillance, sousveillance is almost similar just sort of putting it in a different context.

The term “sousveillance”, is coined by Steve Mann. The word “sous” in the term comes from french and it means “below”. This responds to the word “sur” in surveillance which means “on” in french. The difference between Sousveillance and Surveillance is simply one is sousveillance denotes bring the camera down to human level instead of having other elements or higher authorities doing the watching.

Sousveillance has become increasingly popular and is rising in trend. People are more susceptible to the idea of “watching from below”. This has been fuelled by miniature digital technologies.  In one of Steve Mann’s paired essays, he states, “We now live in a society in which we have both “the few watching the many” (surveillance), AND “the many watching the few” (sousveillance)” 

Though I agree that Sousveillance is beneficial to society, I do believe it should be practiced with certain boundaries and precaution. It definitely helps one protect themselves and hold power accountable. However, it can also be misused and taken advantage of. Thus, I believe it should only be used as a response to surveillance. With the prevalance of smart phone technology and social media applications sousveillance is fully accessible and always in use. As such, we should also take into precaution how much we should support the act of sousveillance and how far is too far?