Search

This article compares surveillance-related experiences and attitudes of two generations of media users in countries with different historical surveillance regimes (Estonia, Portugal, and Sweden) and analyzes the predictors of the attitudes toward contemporary surveillance. A large-scale online survey (N = 3221) reveals that attitudes toward online state and corporate surveillance are interrelated; the two attitudinal components are, however, generation-specific, having different predictors. Tolerance toward state surveillance is more characteristic of the older group, being predicted by trustful and obedient attitudes toward state authorities and institutions. Tolerance toward corporate dataveillance is more characteristic of the younger group, being predicted by active and self-confident media use. While the socio-historical context molds the intergenerational gaps in surveillance-related experiences and attitudes, individual-level experiences of state surveillance do not predict tolerance toward either type of contemporary surveillance, suggesting that global techno-cultural developments are probably more powerful factors than past experiences in forming generation-specific attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1683, Edward Massey, an obscure office‐holder in Braintree, Essex, provided the state with one of the most explosive accounts of conspiratorial activities in England during the so‐called 'Exclusion Crisis'. Massey, a prisoner in the King's Bench, named dozens of individuals in his native Essex, as well as the West Country and London, who apparently aired seditious grievances with King Charles II and his Roman Catholic brother and heir, James, Duke of York, and compassed participation in a national plot to ensure the succession of a Protestant in the form of Charles's illegitimate son, James, Duke of Monmouth. The colourful details of the alleged conspiracy bear reproduction in this article. Nevertheless, the difficulty of crediting the most radical implications of Massey's narratives calls for a cautious assessment of their reliability and value to historians. Fortunately, additional evidence enables us to treat Massey's account as a detailed testimony of how those marginalised by the Stuarts' post‐Restoration settlements were able to mobilise behind and sustain their discontents, and the anxious secrecy and cautious trust which, amid heightened state surveillance, defined their encounters. Moreover, the article demonstrates how necessarily secretive political and religious networks mapped onto, and drew strength from, bonds which were forged in experiences of parochial administration and business, particularly the production of and trade in cloth. The result is an account of the Restoration's 'politics of religion' which highlights the communicative and ideological importance of the politics of local office and (inter)national trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artists and filmmakers frequently problematize drone warfare through their creative practices, contesting military surveillance and violence by appropriating, parodying, and turning the drone's gaze back at itself. Challenging and subverting the myth of 'precision targeting' – the military's claim to perfect accuracy in aiming their weapons only at 'bad guys' – is central to artists' engagement with drone warfare. By looking at recent work by Nicolas Brynolfson, George Barber, and eteam, the author argues that these artists pose drone vision – how and what drones see and look at – as a site of compromised looking, where the indexical and objective is rarely just that, but always layered by and interpreted through discourse, ideology, compression, and noise. By performing 'drone witnessing', these artists tease out the connective tissue between state surveillance and remote warfare, raising key questions about sovereignty and autonomy in the age of operational images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed significant challenges on global health, emphasizing the persistent threat of large-scale infectious diseases in the future. This study addresses the need to enhance pooled testing efficiency for large populations. The common approach in pooled testing involves consolidating multiple test samples into a single tube to efficiently detect positivity at a lower cost. However, what is the optimal number of samples to be grouped together in order to minimize costs? i.e. allocating ten individuals per group may not be the most cost-effective strategy. In response, this paper introduces the hierarchical quotient space, an extension of fuzzy equivalence relations, as a method to optimize group allocations. In this study, we propose a cost-sensitive multi-granularity intelligent decision model to further minimize testing costs. This model considers both testing and collection costs, aiming to achieve the lowest total cost through optimal grouping at a single layer. Building upon this foundation, two multi-granularity models are proposed, exploring hierarchical group optimization. The experimental simulations were conducted using MATLAB R2022a on a desktop with Intel i5-10500 CPU and 8G RAM, considering scenarios with a fixed number of individuals and fixed positive probability. The main findings from our simulations demonstrate that the proposed models significantly enhance the efficiency and reduce the overall costs associated with pooled testing. For example, testing costs were reduced by nearly half when the optimal grouping strategy was applied, compared to the traditional method of grouping ten individuals. Additionally, the multi-granularity approach further optimized the hierarchical groupings, leading to substantial cost savings and improved testing efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National opinions on a wide variety of public health topics can change over time and have highly contextual nuances. This study is a follow-up to prior inquiries into the knowledge of wastewater-based epidemiology, privacy concerns surrounding sample collection, and the use of data acquired, along with privacy awareness from an online survey conducted in the metropolitan United States during the winter of 2023. Mentions of wastewater-surveillance-related terms in the media remained common. Towards the outbreak tail in 2023, public support for surveillance of toxins (91%), diseases (91%), terrorist threats (87%), illicit drugs (70%), prescription medications (69%), and gun residue (60%) remained high. There was less support for surveillance of alcohol consumption (49%), mental illness (46%), healthy eating (37%), and lifestyle behaviors (35%). In terms of geographic scale, most respondents supported citywide surveillance (85%) with markedly lower levels of support for smaller (less anonymous) geographic scales covered by specific locations. Wastewater surveillance does not receive the public pushback that other COVID-19-related health system actors have witnessed. Instead, the public supports the expansion of wastewater surveillance as a standard to complement public health tools in other areas of health protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-sectional study aimed to analyse the factors contributing to state body appreciation (SBA) during exercise. After providing their informed consent, 200 study participants (mean age 30.0 ± 9.4 years, 72.0% were men) filled in an online questionnaire immediately after the completion of resistance training (n = 125), cardiovascular exercise (n = 55), or functional/interval group exercise (n = 20) sessions. The study measures included socio-demographic variables, body mass index (BMI), the duration of involvement in sports, SBA, state body surveillance (SBS), state mindfulness in physical activity, state intrinsic exercise regulation, and perceived pleasantness during exercise. The results showed that exercisers involved in sports for >2 years and those whose body weight was within a healthy range (<25.0 kg/m2) demonstrated higher SBA and mindfulness during exercise, lower SBS, more intrinsic exercise regulation, and higher satisfaction during physical activity compared to exercisers with less exercise experience (≤2 years) and a body weight higher than a healthy range (≥25.0 kg/m2). The negative effects of being overweight or obese were more pronounced in individuals with ≤2 years of sports participation, except regarding body surveillance and monitoring the mind. The factors significantly contributing to SBA during the exercise sessions were a longer duration of involvement in sports, a lower BMI and SBS, and greater mindful body acceptance and exercise pleasantness. Decreasing SBS and enhancing mindful body acceptance, pleasantness, and intrinsic motivation during exercise might significantly contribute to SBA in physical activity. These results can inform physical-activity-based programmes aiming to promote a positive body image. Also, these results show that it is important to increase education and develop competencies for fitness coaches to create inclusive and positive-body-image-promoting sports environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worker solidarity is a recurring theme in the digital labour debate. While recent studies of the on-demand platforms contribute to highlighting digital affordances in fostering solidarity among gig workers, few have explored how this works in depth and offered a theoretically informed evaluation of this potential. This study of Didi drivers in China fills this gap by looking at how agential practices amplify or constrain the effects of digital communication. We contribute to constructing a mediated framework of affordances for association, for discourse and for mobilisation to examine the process of fostering worker solidarity. Increasingly under structural constraints of platform control and state surveillance on labour activism, this article discloses the theoretical puzzle of 'solidarity in question' by rooting the agential practices firmly in the analysis of workers' gender, migratory status, work experience and critical media literacy, and how they intersect with the tactical appropriation of social media to create potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of crime decline, police surveillance has continued to expand through a range of tactics oriented towards policing social disadvantage. Yet, despite attention to the linkages between residential inequality and policing, few studies have accounted for two intertwined structural developments since the turn of the 21st century: (1) the shift away from spatially concentrated patterns of racial segregation within urban centers towards sprawling patterns of economic segregation and (2) the turn from reactive policing towards proactive surveillance. Using the case of big data policing, we create a new measure of big data surveillance in metropolitan areas to examine how changes in segregation have affected the expansion of proactive police surveillance. In contrast to theoretical accounts emphasizing the role of police surveillance in governing economic inequality and perpetuating racial segregation, we do not find evidence that racial segregation or income inequality increase big data surveillance. Instead, much of the recent rise in big data policing is explained by increases in sprawling patterns of income segregation. These results provide new insight into the linkages between policing and residential inequality and reveal how changes in metropolitan segregation influence criminal justice surveillance in the era of big data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Conclusions In 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration approved nivolumab as the first immunotherapy for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, population‐based survival benefit studies after the introduction of immunotherapy in lung cancer are lacking. This study examined overall survival (OS) and cancer‐specific survival in patients with NSCLC in the pre immunotherapy and immunotherapy eras.This study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, which spanned 17 registries from 2000 to 2020. Two cohorts were delineated: preimmunotherapy (2010–2014) and immunotherapy (2015–2020), which coincided with nivolumab’s approval.This study included 191,802 patients, 90,807 in the preimmunotherapy era and 100,995 in the immunotherapy era. OS was significantly higher in the immunotherapy era, as shown by Kaplan–Meier curves (1‐year OS, 40.1% vs. 33.5%; 3‐year OS, 17.8% vs. 11.7%; 5‐year OS, 10.7% vs. 6.8%; median OS, 8 vs. 7 months; p < .001 by log‐rank test). Similarly, cancer‐specific survival improved in the immunotherapy era (1‐year survival, 44.0% vs. 36.8%; 3‐year survival, 21.7% vs. 14.4%; 5‐year survival, 14.3% vs. 9.0%; median OS, 10 vs. 8 months; p < .001 by log‐rank test). Survival rates were significantly better in the immunotherapy era, as confirmed by multivariate analysis with a Cox proportional hazards model after adjusting for age, sex, race, income, and geographical area (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.830; 95% CI, 0.821–0.840; p < .001).In summary, the survival rate of patients with metastatic NSCLC has improved since the introduction of immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incarceration has become the norm for those who assert their innocence. A staggering number of defendants are incarcerated prior to the adjudication of their cases--a reality that has become a central paradox of an American criminal justice system which holds axiomatic the presumption of innocence. Recent attempts to address pretrial mass incarceration through bail reform and the COVID-19 pandemic compassionate release programs have embraced digital surveillance, resulting in unintended and little-understood consequences. This Article examines how the expanded use of pretrial GPS surveillance is radically changing the presumption of innocence by implicating punitive measures absent constitutional protections and amplifying the racial disparities in our criminal justice system. Largely viewed as a substitution for physical detention and therefore a less onerous intrusion on a defendant's liberty, pretrial GPS surveillance erodes fundamental liberties under the guise of criminal justice regulation. These highly racialized but invisible repercussions include harms to physical and psychological health, freedom of movement, privacy, and future economic self-determination. I argue that, in light of these substantial harms, courts must examine how they evaluate technological surveillance, affording defendants substantive and procedural due process protections where there currently are none. Part I of this Article charts the ways in which bail reform and the COVID-19 pandemic-related compassionate release programs have resulted in the expansion of pretrial GPS monitoring far beyond the footprint of physical incarceration. Part II, examining an empirical case study as a basis, details the specific and racialized harms imposed by technologically-mediated restraint. Part III offers a substantive and procedural due process framework for how courts should weigh these harms. Finally, I argue for a re-assessment of United States v. Salerno to recognize future dangerousness as a fundamentally racialized concept that, guided by increasingly sophisticated means of constant surveillance, oversteps the boundary between regulatory and punitive purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution aimed to examine the critical issues related to the export of cybersurveillance technologies by some European Union companies to Myanmar, a country with a history of instability and geopolitical tensions that have been exacerbated since the military coup of 2021. Non-governmental organizations operating in the country, in addition to humanitarian and development assistance, play a crucial role in the evolution of civil society, and, also thanks to some of them, it has been possible to find out some irregularities in the export of dual-use goods that may cause social impacts and infringe on the freedoms of Burmese civil society. Through a qualitative analysis of the literature, the main EU regulations, and related NGOs documents, the research uncovered some regulatory loopholes that allowed such exports while examining the practices of some European companies in Burma. The work carried out confirmed the need for stricter regulation: in this sense, the European Commission’s recent Delegated Regulation 2023/66 aims to ensure more effective control over this type of export by preventing the misuse of surveillance technology and promoting greater accountability of companies operating in authoritarian contexts.

Technology-enabled state surveillance has evolved rapidly to allow real-time remote tracking and surveillance of people and vehicles and the aggregation of vast amounts of data on people and their movements, networks, and relationships. Facial recognition technology (FRT) comprises a suite of technologies that allows verification, identification, and categorisation by analysing a person's facial image. Such technologies impact fundamental rights, such as privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly, but can also be used to detect, investigate, and deter serious crime and harm and to counter threats to security, thus promoting collective interests in security and public safety. These impacts have been considered in terms of scholarship and advocacy, but the shape of principled regulation is less well traversed. This contribution examines three contemporary case studies of the regulation of FRT in policing and security to analyse the challenges in regulating this technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Christa Wolf's Sommerstück (1989) through the lens of modernist utopian thinking and genre-theory. The novel challenges the common-sense definition of utopia as an imagined paradisiacal state and the idyll as an idealized vision of communal harmony, complicating the question of dwelling within a utopian idyll at the specific historical conjuncture that preceded the Mauerfall. Interrogating the function of fantasy and the structure of mirage in idealized moments of crystallization with reference to Jameson's opposition of idyll to utopia, the article contends that utopian impulses in Sommerstück aim to replace the harsh reality of East Germany through the idealization of the quotidian. Although lampooned by Hegel in the Aesthetics as lacking development and the many-sidedness of human interests evinced in epic poetry, the idyll is nonetheless positioned as the prosaic ground for romance and on a continuum with hybrid forms of epic. The article charts the temporal structure of development and progression inherent in the formalism of the genre in terms of the temporal structure of utopian striving. I first identify the temporal structure of idyll and utopia as outlined in the narrative. Of paramount importance is how the narrative, despite being rooted in a specific historical context, attempts to create a utopian vision of social relations as at once timeless and evolving. The shifting relationship between utopian ideals and a changing political reality becomes a focal point for thinking the inseparability of the idyllic from the utopian. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, anti-utopian elements of the negative ideal – the remnants of the old society of control and surveillance – were rendered more prominent to the observers of the divide. From a certain vantage point, then, one could say that the phenomenon of utopia is one of perspectival and spectatorial distance; it intersects with the idyllic mirage of a harmonious collocation in a state of innocence where different societal ideals and classes merge into indistinction. The article deepens the analysis of utopia by considering it within broader frameworks of genre-theory and German idealist thinking, suggesting that the quest for a perfect society may involve control, assimilation, and power struggles – dystopian themes highlighted by the novel when reread in light of catastrophe and a critical reevaluation of the meaning of dwelling at 'the end of history.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At one time monitoring over 900 million people, China’s health code system is arguably the most controversial invention of the pandemic. This study explores how the system emerged and its implications for security governance in urban communities. By analysing 9,533 social media posts published during three key weeks, the study revealed that early pandemic responses in China were heavily shaped by private nodes, such as estate management companies, private security guards and homeowners. Homeowners’ demands for extra security clashed with migrants’ and tenants’ demands for mobility. The health code system was presented as a ‘solution’ to these conflicts. The findings of this study highlight the limitations of consumer-driven pluralisation in policing. Such pluralisation offered limited opportunities for democratisation. Instead, the radical pursuit of ‘club goods’ by consumer-denizens reinforced existing inequalities. Entrenched inequalities tempted marginalised social groups to accept ‘indiscriminate’ surveillance, which paved the way for a neo-panopticon. The study also warns against the alliance of state nodes and big-tech companies. Through collaboration, these powerful players can replace political dynamics in the community with data-driven modulation, thus destroying the foundation of nodal governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this autoethnography of ethnographic training and methodologies, I reflect upon unaddressed tensions in a Los Angeles County gurdwara ethnography, pursued as an intellectualized response to the 2012 Oak Creek gurdwara shooting. I theorize the gurdwara (and other similarly sociopolitically located spaces) as "already-surveilled," where intimacy in a US white supremacist context must also be seen as a forced relation with the state surveillance apparatus. Analyzing field notes from the classroom and gurdwara, I offer three possible approaches to ethnographic inquiry: participant observation, bearing witness, and embodied conviction. I argue that, without an embodied approach, ethnographic approaches fail to incorporate analyses of power and precarity (the material), particularly for communities of belief (the immaterial). Finally, I offer a model for generating theoretical and methodological frameworks from embodied practices of belief or conviction—in this case, Sikh praxes of relation, knowing, and belief that are witnessed across various gurdwaras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabies remains a burden in Africa, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable despite the availability of effective vaccines. Nigeria, the most populous African country, needs rapid disease control actions and commitments to achieve the goal of eliminating dog-mediated rabies by 2030. Surveillance is an essential element of effective disease control strategies. This study examined the current state of operationality of the rabies surveillance system for early case detection and management in Gombe state, Nigeria, through a One Health lens. It further examined the barriers impeding the effectiveness of the surveillance based on the perception of surveillance workers. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to assess the structure of the system and its functioning. Data on dog bite and rabid cases obtained from the veterinary services in Gombe state were analysed descriptively. A total of 13 key informants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis to explore in depth the factors that influenced the operationality of the system. A total of 157 potential human exposures to rabies were identified in this study, out of which two people reportedly died at the health facility after showing symptoms highly suggestive of rabies. In terms of rabies surveillance and control, cross-sectoral collaboration was found between the human health and veterinary sectors for risk assessment of potential rabies exposures and its management. Some identified factors affecting the operations of the surveillance were inadequate funding, lack of infrastructure, lack of feedback from higher authorities and insufficient knowledge of rabies prevention and management. To improve the capacity for case detection and management within the state, the appropriate authorities may focus on increasing awareness about the disease to the populace to increase the number of cases identified by the system, employ more workers and strengthen the surveillance capability of existing workers. Author summary: Rabies continues to be a problem in Africa, affecting vulnerable populations, despite effective vaccines being available. Nigeria, being the most populous country in Africa, needs to take prompt action to be able to eliminate dog-mediated rabies by 2030. Surveillance is an essential part of effective rabies control. This study used a mixed-methods approach to investigate how well the rabies surveillance system in Gombe state, Nigeria, is working to detect and manage cases early. A total of 157 potential human exposures to rabies were found with two deaths suggestive of rabies. The human health and veterinary sectors were found to work together to assess risks and manage potential rabies exposures, but several factors were identified that compromised effectiveness of surveillance. Key barriers were lack of funding, infrastructure, feedback from higher authorities, and knowledge of rabies prevention and management. To improve the system, authorities are encouraged to raise awareness about rabies, employ more workers, and strengthen the capabilities of existing workers in Gombe state. By doing this, they can better detect and manage rabies cases and work towards eliminating the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study in Thailand on how the refugee population from Myanmar uses digital counter-surveillance to protect themselves. They use digital media such as images, videos, and informational campaigns to counteract state surveillance. Although they have used Facebook and other platforms to share information and establish counter-surveillance networks, they still face mobility restrictions and physical surveillance by security forces in Thailand. They use social networks and digital platforms to counter-surveil and recognize checkpoints and security patrols, but this strategy may not be viable in the long term and may trigger retaliation from authorities. [Extracted from the article]

Our previous Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) study revealed a concerning decline in brachytherapy utilization in the United States between 1988 and 2009. This study evaluates recent trends in brachytherapy utilization in cervical cancer and identifies factors and survival benefit associated with the use of brachytherapy treatment. Using SEER data, 8500 patients with International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians 2009 stage IB2-IVA cervical cancer treated with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) between 2000 and 2020 were identified. Logistic regression analysis was performed on potential factors associated with brachytherapy use: age, marital status, race, ethnicity, income, metropolitan status, year of diagnosis, SEER region, histology, grade, and stage. To adjust for differences between patients who received brachytherapy and those who did not, propensity-score matching was used. Multivariable Cox regression analysis assessed the association of brachytherapy use with cervical cancer-specific mortality (CSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM) in the matched cohort. Sixty-four percent of the 8500 women received brachytherapy in combination with EBRT; 36% received EBRT alone. The brachytherapy utilization rate declined sharply in 2003/2004 (lowest rate 44% in 2003) and then gradually improved especially in 2018 to 2020 (76%). Factors associated with higher odds of brachytherapy use included younger age, married (vs single), later years of diagnosis, certain SEER regions, and earlier stage. In the propensity-score matched cohort, brachytherapy treatment was associated with lower 4-year cumulative incidence of cancer death (32.1% vs 43.4%; P <.001) and better overall survival (64.0% vs 51.4%; P <.001). Brachytherapy treatment was independently associated with lower CSM (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.64-0.76; P <.001) and ACM (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.67-0.78; P <.001). Brachytherapy utilization among SEER regions has improved since 2004 in patients with stage IB2-IVA cervical cancer. Brachytherapy use remains independently associated with significantly lower CSM and ACM and is an essential component of treatment for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study of commercial cannabis in the United States. Drawing on 56 interviews with cannabis stakeholders collected between 2018–2020, I examine how different governmentalities of surveillance became distorted by the contradiction between state and federal cannabis laws. As in other regulated markets, these governmentalities informed state-sponsored surveillance initiatives to stop, contain, or support certain forms of deviance by commercial cannabis businesses. Due to fragmented governance, the efficacy of these initiatives depended in part upon the actions of the regulated cannabis industry. Commercial cannabis businesses looked to how surveillance was configured to develop strategies that could help them overcome challenges stemming from their semi-legality. These strategies included incorporating practices that were not required by law, partnering with the state in surveillance efforts, and engaging in activities to combat the black market. I argue that the embedded relationship between governmentalities, surveillance initiatives, and commercial cannabis activities transformed these strategies into mechanisms through which structure emerged in this nascent market. This paper introduces a set of surveillance categories, proposes new directions for research on social control and markets, and offers a novel study of commercial cannabis that can help to explain the trajectory of this market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the under-studied phenomenon of maritime borders by providing a civilian perspective on how fishers live, negotiate, contest, and transcend state borders and surveillance at sea. It explores the everyday transboundary practices of Chinese fishers in the geopolitically sensitive South China Sea (SCS), examining their cross-border tactics to sustain fishing livelihoods and the mechanisms underpinning these tactics. Based on long-term, continuous ethnographic investigations, we unravel four tactics employed by Chinese fishers to elude the constraints of territorial borders: contract production, trans-territorial production, paying for the sea, and the appropriation of marine physicality. These transboundary strategies are supported by three mechanisms, including common fisher identity, historical transnational networks, and regional development structures. This research shows the agency and creativity of fishers in challenging and punctuating maritime territoriality in the context of increasing militarisation and securitisation of borderlands. It illustrates how the distinct materiality, mobility, and temporality of the ocean can be weaponised by fishers to undermine state-bordering processes. By exposing the extensive, dynamic, and complex civilian interactions and collaborations in the region, we demonstrate that the SCS is more than a geopolitical space but at the same time a social site of cooperation and solidarity. In doing so, this research contributes to studies of maritime borders and civilian geopolitical subjectivity by illuminating the flexibility of fishers in exercising powers on borders at sea. It also advances the existing SCS area studies by 'peopling' the political geography of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever-present mass surveillance has blocked the flourishing of a traditional dissident culture in Turkey. Focusing on popular 'just for fun' Instagram accounts during the lira's freefall that began in the autumn of 2021, this study seeks to identify the creative strategies for digital social resistance embedded in multimodal content sharing of posts, which are composed of visuals, text, and sound. For this, we employed a multimodal-type analysis of Instagram posts regarding Turkey's economic crisis, followed by an interpretative content analysis aiming to (1) identify, categorize, and compile a typology of the main countersurveillance strategies inherent in multimodal posts, such as memes, edited videos, and animations, Photoshop-crafted still images, and (2) explore the contextual traits of the connected dissident culture. We discuss how these multimodal-type posts support connected dissident group formation while maintaining confidentiality while criticizing governmental conduct of economic policy making in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media (SM) based surveillance systems, combined with machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques, have shown potential for early detection of epidemic outbreaks. This review discusses the current state of SM-based surveillance methods for early epidemic outbreaks and the role of ML and DL in enhancing their performance. Since, every year, a large amount of data related to epidemic outbreaks, particularly Twitter data is generated by SM. This paper outlines the theme of SM analysis for tracking health-related issues and detecting epidemic outbreaks in SM, along with the ML and DL techniques that have been configured for the detection of epidemic outbreaks. DL has emerged as a promising ML technique that adapts multiple layers of representations or features of the data and yields state-of-the-art extrapolation results. In recent years, along with the success of ML and DL in many other application domains, both ML and DL are also popularly used in SM analysis. This paper aims to provide an overview of epidemic outbreaks in SM and then outlines a comprehensive analysis of ML and DL approaches and their existing applications in SM analysis. Finally, this review serves the purpose of offering suggestions, ideas, and proposals, along with highlighting the ongoing challenges in the field of early outbreak detection that still need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of digitization, data has become a pivotal force driving advancements across various sectors and transforming legal systems worldwide. China, in particular, is exploring new data-driven governance models. A prime example of this is its integration of the patent system with the Social Credit System (SCS). This paper aims to fill the void in theoretical research on this subject, moving beyond the prevalent narrative of the SCS as either a tool of state surveillance or a reputation-based regulatory mechanism. Instead, it introduces the concept of personalized law in the context of China's patent system. The paper suggests that the integration of social credit data within China's patent law system aligns the system's operations more closely with its objectives. This offers a personalized approach that provides individual market entities with tailored incentives based on their unique characteristics. To analyze this approach, the paper proposes a novel four-part analytical framework: profiling, personalization, communication, and adjustment. The paper then applies this framework to the two core mechanisms that result from the integration of the patent system with the SCS: the Reward and Punishment Mechanism and the Tiered Regulation Mechanism. This analysis reveals that these mechanisms are still in the stage of crude personalization and grapples with challenges such as narrow data scope, lack of transparency, and over-penalization. The paper discusses two implications of personalized law reform: the redistribution of power toward administrative bodies--which necessitates a rebalancing of powers to avoid abuse and protect individual rights--and the possible expansion of the law's functions--which might not align with existing normative theories and might have unintended consequences. The process of personalization requires scholars and policymakers to adapt and refine these theories as well as to identify and eliminate unintended consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of state restriction and surveillance on social media engagement has been widely investigated in communication studies. However, these studies tend not to capture the moment when these restrictions are implemented and citizens experience a high level of uncertainty. Addressing the implementation of a national security law (NSL) in Hong Kong, we used two-wave panel data to understand political engagement on Facebook before and shortly after the law was enacted. We find a serial mediation path in which pan-democratic and localist users (those who tend to oppose the government) showed greater fear of the law; this encouraged more active privacy management which was related to a higher level of engagement after the enactment of NSL, implying that these users responded strategically through restricting the visibility of their engagement. This mediation path is moderated by the level of political disagreement users encountered on Facebook. Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the re-racialization of Iranians in the United States during the 1970s, specifically focusing on the surveillance and potential deportation of Iranian international students after the Battle of Beverly Hills protest in 1979. The article argues that these actions shifted Iranians from being viewed as privileged racial minorities to national security threats. It examines the relationship between migration policy, foreign policy, and US neocolonial ambition during the Cold War, as well as the role of Iranian students in US-Iranian relations and their opposition to US-sponsored modernization. The article also discusses the protests in Washington, D.C. in 1977 and the violence in Beverly Hills in 1979, which led to calls for the deportation of Iranians in the United States. The government implemented surveillance, counting, and potential deportation policies to address the perceived threat of Iranian students. [Extracted from the article]

If terrorist organizations wish to thrive, they often must adapt to lethal targeting. Over time, terrorist leaders can identify countermeasures that evade or erode state surveillance capabilities. Lower-level operatives will resist implementing these adaptations, however, so leaders must enforce their implementation. Leaders of groups with decentralized command relationships will struggle to directly monitor and enforce compliance. Leaders with limited resources at their disposal will also be unable to invest in the bureaucratic capacity to discipline operatives' behavior. These organizational deficiencies become increasingly costly when state surveillance capabilities increase. I find support for this thesis by examining Arabic language correspondence from Usama bin Ladin's compound related to the drone campaign in Pakistan. My argument contributes to theories of adaptation and the coercive power of warfighting technologies. It also suggests that advanced surveillance and strike capabilities may be insufficient for future counterterrorism success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern society changed the way of communication: instead of communicating face-to-face, people more often communicate using text-based instant messaging (IM) applications. These applications use appropriate protocols to facilitate communication between end users. It is crucial to ensure both the security and an adequate level of privacy for end users. Many existing protocols having the same purpose might be considered potentially suspicious. The reason for this is the usage of encryption - encrypted traffic is often targeted by mass surveillance tools. This paper presents a novel protocol named StegaCloak. By combining cryptography with steganography, this protocol enhances security and privacy in modern text-based IM communication. Furthermore, it addresses one important weakness of other similar protocols - detectability, by hiding real communication within regular chat messages. We described our protocol using two approaches: a simple diagram of messages flow and formal protocol flow notation. The proposed protocol is compared to some of the most well-known IM protocols today, OTR and Signal. Its security is verified using the AVISPA tool, a tool designed for the formal verification of security protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article draws from ethnographic and oral history research to explore the intersection of cigarette smuggling and tribal relationships in Cizre, a Kurdish city located near Turkey's border with Syria and Iraq. Cigarette smuggling serves as a primary source of income for the city's tribal communities, operating beyond the state's oversight and outside the 'secure' networks of the regulated market. This informal economy necessitates active collaboration amongst participants to effectively avoid state surveillance, and establish partnerships and substitute networks for coordinating the transfer of cigarettes, as well as for securing credit – all rooted in their tribal affiliations. I suggest that due to its significant reliance on tribal networks, the cigarette smuggling industry has allowed the Kurdish tribes to preserve their influence within an urban setting, even after their detachment from their pastoral economy and fragmentation as a result of enforced migration. I argue that the prominent role played by tribes in orchestrating the cigarette smuggling economy is indicative of the redistributive function that these institutions have increasingly assumed for their constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with a global decline in the principles of equality, freedom, transparency, and accountability, democracies must respond by turning their attention inward – and crafting a model that leads by example. Dealing with the advent of 21st-century surveillance methods is a place to start, because it presents both issues of justice and equity at home and novel national security threats abroad. This analysis offers an initial roadmap for American and aligned countries' policymakers to pursue the democratic surveillance ideal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveillance, China, Uyghurs, democracy, Human Rights Watch, digital repression, techno-authoritarianism, surveillance capitalism, dissent, social credit system In this interview with the I Bulletin i 's Dan Drollette Jr., Wang explains how she learned of what was going on, what technologies are being used, and the thinking behind its implementation on the part of the Chinese government - and how this techno-authoritarianism could be a taste of what is to come. Keywords: Surveillance; China; Uyghurs; digital repression; techno-authoritarianism; surveillance capitalism; democracy; Human Rights Watch; dissent; social credit system EN Surveillance China Uyghurs digital repression techno-authoritarianism surveillance capitalism democracy Human Rights Watch dissent social credit system 239 242 4 09/12/22 20220901 NES 220901 As readers may know from media exposés, the Chinese government has already implemented an authoritarian surveillance state in its province of Xinjiang, where the Uyghur Muslim minority is constantly subject to cameras, facial recognition algorithms, biometrics, abundant checkpoints, big data, and constant screening - making them live inside what some have called a "virtual cage.". [Extracted from the article]

The mass distribution of advertising and information via radio propelled capitalism into a new logic of accumulation, penetrating private spaces with the collection and distribution of commodified information. Archaeological, ethnographic, and archival evidence about the heterogenous ways radio has been deployed, received, resisted, and adopted reveals that our system of monopolized mass media and surveillance capitalism is not an inevitable extension of technological advancement. Rather it is a choice, accommodation, and contingency brokered by hegemonic forces and diverse publics. Examples of radio usage from throughout history, however, demonstrates that cracks in the capitalist disimagination machine have been present since the beginning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 Epidemiological Investigation Support System (EISS) is a digital epidemiological tool, which utilizes location data from cellular base stations, credit card transactions records, and QR codes. It is a mass surveillance system that uses big data to track the entire infected population, featuring an extensive, automated, and speedy processing of data on personal location and the linkage of multiple databases from various governmental agencies. Based on interviews with people who have developed Korean digital epidemiology systems, this paper explores the technical, infrastructural, social, and institutional factors that have shaped Korean digital epidemiology since the 2014 avian flu crisis and examines the essential conditions of big data for digital epidemiology. The main findings are as follows: The feasibility of EISS goes beyond the matter of privacy; it is closely connected to technological infrastructures such as a high density of cellular base stations and private cloud systems; people's behavior such as a high rate of smartphone and credit card usage; and new forms of governance and institutions for speedy data processing. Multiple database linkage would develop EISS into a big data surveillance system that enables the prediction of risk-prone groups in a more preemptive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Reconstructing Privacy: Remarks on Life After Privacy" by Paul Showler discusses the concept of privacy in the context of our confessional culture. Showler raises questions about the exercise of power within this culture and challenges the normative implications drawn from it. The article also explores the historical continuity of privacy and its transformation over time. Showler critiques standard conceptions of privacy, arguing against the atomistic view of the subject and the idea that privacy is necessary for democratic flourishing. However, he suggests that a viable version of the public-private distinction can still be developed. [Extracted from the article]

The article titled "Symposium: Firmin DeBrabander's Life After Privacy: Reclaiming Democracy in a Surveillance Society" explores the erosion of privacy in the age of Big Data and discusses the challenges of resisting this trend. It examines the power dynamics between the state, corporations, and individuals, highlighting their role in governing and controlling personal information. The author argues for the importance of privacy and suggests shifting focus towards a political conception of public life inspired by civil rights and labor movements. The article acknowledges the complexity of privacy and its applications, but emphasizes the need to push back against Big Data and defend privacy as a threat to individual identities. [Extracted from the article]

The web series "Khakee: The Bihar Chapter" explores the use of phone tapping for surveillance in the context of crime prevention in Bihar, India. The series follows a police officer who tracks down a dangerous criminal with the help of phone tapping. The legality of phone tapping in India is discussed, with the Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional unless there is a suspicion of a crime. The series also highlights the advancements in media technology and the growing popularity of web series in Asia. It is part of a trend of showcasing crime stories and the role of media intervention in addressing crime issues. [Extracted from the article]

Visible surveillance technologies are vanishing in the wake of dataveillance. The practice of surveillance is certainly not disappearing, but it has become inconspicuous. In a regime of invisible surveillance, the watchers and the watched alike are hard to identify, for the latter have also become socially invisible as human beings. I argue that the idea of becoming invisible in both digital and pre-digital surveillance societies is multifaceted. On the one hand, it suggests total deprivation of personal autonomy as a result of overexposure resulting in the disappearance of the subject and, on the other hand, it implies a possibility of resistance and self-assertion. Self-exposure is taken to extremes in Dave Eggers's dystopian novel The Circle (2013) where the protagonist becomes the centre of attention in a "viewer society" (Mathiesen 1997) and "goes transparent" (Eggers 2013, 351). In contrast, Wolfgang Hilbig's Stasi novel "Ich" (1993) works with different notions of invisibility. Recruited to spy for the Stasi, Hilbig's protagonist – an unsuccessful poet – is at the same time targeted by East Germany's secret police and wants to become invisible, hiding from the omnipresent Stasi surveillance in Berlin's maze-like cellar corridors in an attempt of self-assertion. The comparison of these novels will elucidate how different discourses on (in)visibility and transparency contribute to an account of subjectivity that attempts to resist surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is interested in representations of mass surveillance in Hunted, Channel 4's reality tv series in which 'ordinary British citizens' roleplay as 'fugitives' that must evade surveillance and capture by 'the state.' Here contentious powers of state surveillance are mitigated by (a) the programme's deployment of a myth of surveillance 'symmetry' and a 'fugitive fantasy' that obfuscate the racial politics of 'being watched' in a post-9/11 climate; (b) personal stories of contestants or 'fugitives' that enable a 'therapeutic self' that situates the mass surveillance experience as productive and transformative; and (c) the 'gamification' of surveillance itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Persons with HIV (PWH) are at increased risk for bacterial infections, and previous publications document an increased risk for invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in particular. This analysis provides evidence that PWH face a 6-fold increase in risk for IMD based on Active Bacterial Core surveillance data collected during 2009–2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article explores the legal repercussions resulting from the new wave of anti-Muslim statutes and the state monitoring operations on American Muslims' First Amendment rights. This Article argues that the U.S. government security agencies' surveillance operations (actions) that target American Muslims' religious activities and the new anti-Muslim statutes (laws) established in various states are clear violations of Muslim Americans' First Amendment rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how Hong Sangsoo's film "The Woman Who Ran" portrays women navigating relationships and patriarchy, particularly through the lens of surveillance. It highlights themes of feminine solidarity, kinship, and empowerment as the female characters use CCTV both defensively against men and to foster intimacy and support among themselves. Through the film's exploration of surveillance, it presents a nuanced view of female agency and connection within a patriarchal society.

Copyright of Alman Dili ve Edebiyati Dergisi / Studien zur Deutschen Sprache & Literatur is the property of Alman Dili ve Edebiyall Dergisi / Studien Zur Deutschen Sprahe und Literatilr and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of RSBO: Revista Sul-Brasileira de Odontologia is the property of UNIVILLE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This contribution aimed to examine the critical issues related to the export of cybersurveillance technologies by some European Union companies to Myanmar, a country with a history of instability and geopolitical tensions that have been exacerbated since the military coup of 2021. Non-governmental organizations operating in the country, in addition to humanitarian and development assistance, play a crucial role in the evolution of civil society, and, also thanks to some of them, it has been possible to find out some irregularities in the export of dual-use goods that may cause social impacts and infringe on the freedoms of Burmese civil society. Through a qualitative analysis of the literature, the main EU regulations, and related NGOs documents, the research uncovered some regulatory loopholes that allowed such exports while examining the practices of some European companies in Burma. The work carried out confirmed the need for stricter regulation: in this sense, the European Commission's recent Delegated Regulation 2023/66 aims to ensure more effective control over this type of export by preventing the misuse of surveillance technology and promoting greater accountability of companies operating in authoritarian contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The story often told about HIV in South Africa is a celebratory one that foregrounds the relationship between seropositive citizens and health‐care institutions. In the last 20 years, the government has invested heavily in rolling out life‐sustaining antiretroviral medicines to all who need them, making HIV a firm ground upon which many residents claim protections from the state. This article explores the role of medicine in buttressing the carceral state. I propose biocarceral citizenship to characterize the way health‐care entitlements produce new relationships to the criminal legal system, not through active state surveillance but by extending the responsibilization expected of patients to the penal sphere. Drawing from 22 months of ethnographic research carried out in clinics and courtrooms in the town of Thohoyandou between 2014 and 2018, I apply this concept to both those who have experienced rape, for whom reporting to the (carceral) state is a condition of accessing HIV prophylaxis, and to those who are charged with rape, for whom adherence to antiretroviral medicines is used as evidence of weaponizing sickness. In parallel ways, therapeutic responsibilization exposes both groups to state violence. The article takes HIV‐related entitlements as a cipher for theorizing punishment beyond a critique of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]