This dissertation is on sonic surveillance in the neoliberal context and its implication for privacy, agency, sovereignty, ownership and control. This research focuses on the social, political and ethical conceptions of privacy through musical consumption and sonic practices in the United States. I investigate non-creative recording practices in neoliberal life and identify the listening practices of surveillance capitalism to better understand how power circulates through sound. Through a multi-sited ethnography, I conduct three case studies on the recording and listening capacity of technological devices of everyday life in order to theorize what I term “the neoliberal ear”– a twenty-first century mode of listening to the world embedded into surveillance capitalism. I analyze three sonic tools of surveillance capitalism: streaming service Spotify, Smart Home device Amazon Echo, and Smart City communication hub LinkNYC. These technologies, I argue, embody and promote neoliberal ideology, and the companies that produces them operate within a neoliberal mode of governance allowed by public policies. This dissertation is interdisciplinary in scope and operates at theoretical crossings of sound and power, technology and cultural practices, and disciplinary crossings of music, law and computer science. I draw from, and build connections between; sound studies, ethnomusicology, legal literature and scholarship on copyright and privacy, surveillance studies, science and technology studies, and discourses on AI and ethics, to form theories of sound and power in surveillance capitalism.

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This study examines the deployment of automated red light camera systems in the state of Texas from 2003 through late 2007. The deployment of new technologies in general, and surveillance infrastructures in particular, can prove controversial and challenging for the formation of public policy. Red light camera surveillance during this period in Texas was increasingly discussed in a variety of public forums, creating a discourse involving many stakeholders and multiple opinions on the use and purpose of red light cameras. Public policy resulted when the Texas legislature, which had traditionally been viewed as hostile to the technology, regulated red light camera systems in 2007. My research examined the language choices made by various discourse communities in their discussion of red light camera systems, and their use of language structures in framing positions that either supported or opposed the cameras. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, I analyzed a corpus of texts that represented the public discussion of red light camera technology in Texas. By examining metaphor constructions used to describe the camera systems, I found that metaphors played an important role in framing arguments for or against the deployment of the cameras. My findings provide insight into the ways that language can be used to engage in a discursive and rhetorical conflict. This study has implications for understanding how technology and surveillance policy can be affected by language choices and rhetorical strategies, and how these choices can frame and influence public policy decisions. / text

Thesis (M.Sc.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title from title screen (viewed on Jan. 10, 2006) "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering Management." Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis examines how cinema engages with changing surveillance practices, and the hypothesised paradigm shift from discipline to control. The first part of the thesis outlines those changes in terms of three crucial areas in any discussion of surveillance – the organisation of the body, space and time. Since its publication in the 1970s, Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish has been a continuous influence on much social theory. However, recent developments in surveillance practices suggest that the Foucauldian model of discipline may no longer be the most appropriate theoretical framework within which to discuss contemporary modes of surveillance. In Postscript on Control Societies, written in 1990, Gilles Deleuze offers a possible new paradigm (the control society) through which to explore emerging trends in surveillance practices, often linked to the increasing use of digital technologies. While the paradigm of control does not simply replace that of discipline, it does help us to understand the development and amelioration of disciplinary structures. The second part of the thesis offers an original perspective on ongoing debates in surveillance studies concerning discipline and control, by investigating how this shift is articulated and reflected upon in a diverse range of films (from mainstream productions such as Enemy of the State to avant-garde ‘essays’ such as Harun Farocki’s Ich glaubte Gefangene zu sehen) which explicitly engage with changes in surveillance practice. It focuses specifically on the cinematic representation of the body, space and time in the context of the hypothesised transition from discipline to control, and addresses a series of important questions for cinema’s engagement with surveillance: can cinema, with its reliance on the visual image, address the emerging surveillance society which is increasingly invisible and, if so, what strategies does cinema use to achieve this; and, what is the implication of such strategies for the cinematic spectator? In conclusion, the thesis reflects on how cinema shapes our understanding of the emerging surveillance society.

CHDS State/Local / After mainland United States suffered a violent attack upon its citizenry, Homeland Security professionals recognized the need to protect a growing number of critical infrastructure locations. Millions of dollars earmarked for emergency management programs were funneled into technologies that enabled public safety to â do more with less." Closed circuit television surveillance systems rocketed to the forefront as the must-have technology. Citizens of the United States became subject to video surveillance during their normal daily routines. This thesis examines the management of CCTV systems used by municipal police departments and analyzes the policies created to control the technology and prevent abuse. Using U.S. Census Bureau data, the police departments responsible for protecting the 50 largest cities were contacted and surveyed. The initial step determined what jurisdictions utilized surveillance cameras to monitor public domains. The follow-up steps gathered information about the systems being used; the management decisions regarding where to place the cameras; the training for its operators; supervision standards; the written policies regulating the department's program; analyzing those directives; and finally, presenting step-by-step recommendations for implementing CCTV surveillance systems for Homeland Security use. / Captain, Philadelphia Police Department

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This paper examines the history of electronic surveillance for national security purposes within the United States and relates the statutory and constitutional law to the current, post September 11th practices. An extensive examination of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the recently leaked, classified Terrorist Surveillance Program shows that the FISA Court, within its narrow jurisdiction, adequately accounts for constitutional standards, yet the TSP—including recent reforms—is in clear violation of constitutional and statutory law.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-176).