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Full download The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information 2nd Edition Oscar H. Gandy Jr. file pdf all chapter on 2024
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The Panoptic Sort
The Panoptic Sort
A Political Economy of Personal Information
O S C A R H . G A N DY, J R .
Second Edition
1
3
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University Press, at the address above.
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197579411.001.0001
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Contents
Notes 285
About the Book and Author 333
Index 335
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
Figures
This project has been a long time in development. It began to pick up steam once
I decided to move from Howard University to the University of Pennsylvania.
George Gerbner is largely responsible for that move and for many of the good
things that have happened as a result. Among those things was an introduction to
Ken Laker, the head of Penn’s computer science department and guiding force for
the Penn/AT&T Telecommunications Technology Program that provided three
years of support for my research. Ben Peterson’s confidence in my potential led
an understandably cautious organization to eventually pair me with Emmanuel
Gardner, whose generous assistance led to my national telephone survey. With
the AT&T grant, and with support from the Annenberg School, I was privileged
to work with a continually changing but always wonderful team of graduate re-
search assistants including Jerry Baber, Todd Kristel, Eleanor Novek, Catherine
Preston, Michael Schunck, Nikhil Sinha, Beth Van Horn, and Csilla Voros.
As I began to share my thoughts about privacy and the panoptic sort, I was
pleased to be included in the stream of comment and conversations about tech-
nology, rights, and responsibilities. Although we did not always agree, I value
the advice and counsel of Ed Baker, Mary Culnan, Janlori Goldman, Jim Katz,
Gary Marx, Robert Posch, Priscilla Regan, James Rule, Rohan Samarajiva, and
Alan Westin. As the final hours approached and it seemed as though I would
never take the next critical step, Kathleen Jamieson made an offer that I could
not refuse. Time off and an implied deadline made it both possible and neces-
sary to transform boxes into pages. Her support and encouragement are much
appreciated.
I would also like to thank Herb Schiller and Gordon Massman whose perse-
verance put me in the capable hands of Shena Redmond, Sabina Vanish, and the
other good folks at Westview who have helped to finish this project in good form
and in record time.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the continued support and understanding
of my wife, Judy, whose gentle counsel and editorial insights were always on call.
For our daughter, Imani, who always wanted to know “how many pages is it?”
I can now say “ask your mom!”
With regard to the realization of this second edition, I am pleased to express
my appreciation to David Lipp with regard to the final production management,
and to Monesha Mohandas for her specialized work in this regard. Thanks are
also due to David Birkenkamp from Routledge, and Meghan Vortherms from
x Acknowledgments
Not long ago, I was given the opportunity to reflect on what was accom-
plished with the publication of The Panoptic Sort in 1993 and to offer some ad-
ditional thoughts about what remained to be explored about these concerns.1
This Foreword will serve the purpose of calling your attention to some of the
contributions that have been made to this area and my thinking since its ini-
tial publication. Although I have never considered myself a historian, I have
come to see the value of exploring some early writing with the aid of references
to examples of scholarly writing that has amplified, challenged, perhaps even
corrected mischaracterizations of what was taking place at the time of the orig-
inal publication. It is my hope that you will find these references useful in your
own assessments of what I had set forth. And, in an effort to associate them more
closely with the issues to be considered, I have placed them in the kind of sequen-
tial order that is traditionally followed in a Preface, something that was neglected
in the first edition.
The Prologue, or Chapter 1, was intended to set forth a working definition
of the sociotechnical system that I referred to as the “panoptic sort,” beginning
with reference to its application to the evaluation of individuals seeking finan-
cial credit. It called attention to the kinds of data, or information, that had been
selected as a basis for evaluating the suitability of each candidate for such an
important opportunity to improve their life chances. Although passing note is
made of the assumptions being made by Jürgen Habermas about how rational
discourse was supposed to produce human understanding, far more extended
reference is made to the contributions made to my understanding of panoptic
strategies by Karl Marx, especially with regard to the continuing value of explo-
ration of the relationships between the economic base and superstructure.
Related contributions, especially relevant these days with regard to the in-
ternet and social media, have re-emerged as part of ongoing debates about the
nature of productive and nonproductive labor
Jacques Ellul’s contributions are primarily associated with the increasingly
central role of technology within society, and with particular relevance for our
understanding of the panoptic sort as it continues to evolve. This is especially
true with regard to the extent that technology has a mind of its own—something
of the sort that we are beginning to see in the developments taking place within
computing and algorithmically derived societal interventions. Max Weber’s
The Panoptic Sort. Second Edition. Oscar H. Gandy, Jr., Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2021.
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197579411.003.0001
2 Foreword
Instead, the introduction jumps immediately to its uses. There is really no jus-
tification for this failure to define, given the important contribution to our un-
derstanding of the meaning of information provided by Russell Ackoff, back in
1989. Unfortunately for me, the greatest number of citations to his comments on
the ordering of the essential values associated with its generation and use came
after the publication of some of his “greatest hits” in 1999.3
Ackoff suggested that an ounce of information was worth a pound of data,
while an ounce of knowledge was worth a pound of information, and an ounce
of understanding was worth a pound of knowledge. The value of wisdom was not
estimated, and it is worth reflecting on why that particular computational chal-
lenge had not been pursued. The distinction between data, what we generally
refer to as information, is actually quite important, and we’ll explore that distinc-
tion more closely when we explore the actual operation of the panoptic sort as
presented in Chapter 3.
With power as the primary point of emphasis in that chapter, it begins with a
brief introduction to the three primary functions of processes that are involved
in the sorting process: identification, classification, and evaluation, or assess-
ment. Although there continue to be differences of opinion with regard to the
meaning of identification, I did then and continue to underscore the meaning
of identification as being linked primarily, for a variety of functional purposes,
to a single individual. While classification is also an aspect of identification, the
fact is that the data used for the classification of an individual is likely to be used
to identify other individuals who share similar attributes or characteristics. The
sharing of characteristics among variously sized groups of people raises increas-
ingly troublesome concerns about the kinds of rights that people may have or
claim, regarding the collection and use of data and information about them as
individuals, as well as members of groups. John Cheney-Lippold provides an ex-
tensive and insightful examination of what he refers to as “characterization,” and
as we will later explore in more depth, the manner in which this process comes
to be dominated through the use of sophisticated computers for automated algo-
rithmic processing of masses of data.4
The kinds of power that matter to us today, and appear likely to matter
to people like us well into the future, have been described by economists like
Randall Bartlett, Samuel Bowles, and Herbert Gintis, in addition to the central
contributions made by Marx, Foucault, Giddens, Weber, and Ellul which are
explored in some detail in this chapter. Only the briefest of introductions to the
role played by information technology is included in this chapter, although it
has become a central focus of our contemporary concerns as they relate to the
use of computers. Somewhat more critically, their ability to collect, process, and
evaluate the knowledge, inferences, and behavioral interventions that might be
designed and implemented by autonomous machines is emphasized.
4 Foreword
the processing of “big data,” context is increasingly being cast aside, despite its
importance. I invite you here to consider the important contribution made by
Helen Nissenbaum in her book about “privacy in context,” and the claims being
made by individuals that “contextual integrity” is something of value that should
be respected like other important societal norms, that vary among people situ-
ated in different societal domains.7
It is probably worth noting here, that while Nissenbaum’s book is focused on
concerns about privacy, my first reference to privacy did not come until the end
of Chapter 2. There it was framed in quite critical terms because of the manner
in which it had generally been discussed in the United States. Those discussions
tended to ignore the manner in which that data gathering and analysis enhanced
the power of bureaucratic agencies, both public and private. Instead, surveillance
was the term of art that I emphasized. This began with Christopher Dandeker’s
reference to surveillance early in the Prologue. It ended with references to it in
the final chapter that were made with regard to feedback loops, whereby the use
of the panoptic sort led to growing mistrust among the public. Unfortunately,
this mistrust called for still more of the surveillance that continues to threaten
our democracies.
While privacy is an important focus of concern, the rise of surveillance as a
critical scholarly and political focus has been impressive. The study of surveil-
lance has become an academic major, primarily at the graduate level, and its
success can be attributed largely to the efforts of David Lyon and his colleagues
and students at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and around the globe.8
A highly influential journal, Surveillance & Society, which Lyon helped to de-
velop, publishes articles that examine the nature and consequences that flow
from surveillance in all of its forms.9 A Handbook of Surveillance Studies added to
the resources available to support the development of research and scholarship
in this area.10
Surveillance makes use of a variety of techniques and strategies to transform
large bodies of data gathered by different means from a multitude of sources
into information, knowledge, and applications designed to increase control
over targets, some of which may have been selected on the basis of potential
use. While I take due note of the important role played by government surveil-
lance, including the importance of government data, such as that gathered by the
Census Bureau to decision-making within business and industry,11 the primary
focus of this chapter and much of the book is not on the government. Instead, its
focus is on the profit-seeking firms engaged in the capture and exploitation of the
value to be derived from the gathering and transformation of information about
global populations.
Characterization of the corporate data machine begins with the demand for
and use of information about the labor force, beginning with their applications
6 Foreword
for employment. It moves fairly quickly to consideration of the kinds of data and
information being gathered about consumers, such as that gleaned from surveys,
interviews, and somewhat more indirectly, from records of transactions. A some-
what more specialized method for the gathering of data and information comes
from carefully designed experiments, very few of which involve the kinds of in-
formed consent that had become traditional, if not a formal requirement within
academic institutions.
The transformation of all this data into meaningful information and know-
ledge depends upon increasingly sophisticated processing, informed in part by
theoretical models, but made increasingly efficient in recent times through com-
putational techniques guided by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
A fairly early exploration of developments taking place in the area of artificial
intelligence by Philip Agre made a particularly important contribution to schol-
arly understanding of these developments. This was primarily because of the way
he explored the links between technological development and those taking place
within the humanities and social sciences.12
The literature in this area is developing quite rapidly, increased in part through
the development and growth in academic specializations in data science. Vasant
Dhar provides a useful introduction to the variety of ways in which data sci-
ence, especially that applied to predictive applications, differs substantially from
applications we have traditionally associated with statistics.13 While there is
increasing concern being expressed about the negative consequences flowing
from developments in data science, some critical scholars, such as Jonathan
Cinnamon, have attempted to identify some of the socially beneficial outcomes
that might emerge from the development of “a grassroots data science.”14 Still
others have focused their energies on finding ways to overcome the problems of
bias and error that continue to be identified in much of this work.15
Even back in 1990, when this book was being written, the statistical tech-
nology involved in the identification of population clusters that could facilitate
the use of segmentation strategies that facilitated the delivery of more effective
and efficient advertisements, as well as in attempts at behavioral “nudges,”16 had
already begun to be used within commercial and governmental spheres. The
closing section of this lengthy chapter revisits the important distinctions be-
tween some key terms in order to underscore their roles within the operation
of the panoptic sort. There are important distinctions that ought to be drawn
between classifications as a form of identification and a variety of “documentary
tokens,” like licenses and birth certificates, that are used to facilitate the devel-
opment of confidence that actions being taken apply to particular individuals.
While classifications are also parts of identificatory processes, their application
is not primarily orientated toward particular individuals but toward particular
types of individuals.
Foreword 7
discriminatory messages.21 The development of the internet, and the rapid rise
of social media in what became known as the “platform economy,”22 was soon
followed by a dramatic shift in the nature of direct marketing industry. This shift
was marked by the use of increasingly sophisticated algorithmic selection and
recommendation systems and services operating online.23 Part of that activity
was being focused on the development of multisided markets in which members
of the public were no longer simply passive consumers of media content, but they
were actively contributing to that content as producers of what to some seemed
like exhibitionist self-promotion, as well as pointed social commentary.24 At that
point, the panoptic sort took a dramatic leap into the future that we are experi-
encing today.
In Chapter 4, I focused my attention on trying to understand how the cor-
porate sector understood where it was and where it was hoping to go in the
Information Age. This effort began initially with a focus on three major corpo-
rate actors: The American Express Corporation (AMEX), TRW, and Equifax.
The initial assessment was based primarily on corporate annual reports, but
Equifax stood out from the group. It did so primarily because of its utilization of
the knowledge, expertise, and global reputations of Louis Harris and his surveys,
and those of Alan Westin. Westin was a leading expert in the privacy field, as
well as a social scientist who relied upon large public opinion surveys, often
funded by corporate sponsors to shape policy and understanding of privacy as
a social concern. Because it had not developed into the kinds of public-private
partnerships (P3s) that have more recently become the norm within technolog-
ically transformed “smart cities,”25 none of the currently dominant global firms
were included in this analysis.
After exploring the role of the telemarketing industry and the Direct
Marketing Association, which represented its interests within the public policy
realm, I developed a survey that was intended to characterize the perspectives of
the direct marketing industry.
Not surprisingly, the willingness of these corporate executives to participate
in a survey about the nature of their strategic orientations was really quite low,
with only 139 usable documents out of the 859 surveys that were mailed out.
Tables in the chapter indicated the correlations and other relationships between
a set of common practices, including expressions of concern about security and
the possibility that customer information would emerge as an important re-
source. Additional predictors included the market sectors in which these firms
operated.
Among the most important factors explaining these multivariate relationships,
one measuring corporate concern about negative consumer reactions to their
use of transaction generated and other personal information (TGI) was signifi-
cantly linked to a large number of predictors. Corporate concerns about public
Foreword 9
V. Immediate action.
1. Efforts to be made in every nation to secure the official adoption
of the above program, by the governing bodies at the earliest
possible date. The adoption of the program (contingent upon its
acceptance by a sufficient number of the nations to ensure its
success) to be immediately announced to the world as a standing
offer of federation.
2. The federation of all the possible peace forces that can be
united in behalf of the above program for active propaganda among
all nations.
3. Efforts through the international and the national organizations
of the Socialist party of all nations to secure universal cooperation of
all socialist and labor organizations in the above program.
Fabian Society
London, July 17, 1915.
Non-Justiciable Issues
9. When any question, difference or dispute arising between two
or more Constituent States is not justiciable as defined in these
Articles, and is not promptly brought to an amicable settlement, and
is of such a character that it might ultimately endanger friendly
relations between such States, it shall be the duty of each party to
the matter at issue, irrespective of any action taken or not taken by
any other party, to submit the question, difference or dispute to the
International Council with a view to a satisfactory settlement being
arrived at. The Council may itself invite the parties to lay any such
question, difference or dispute before the Council, or the Council
may itself take any such matter at issue into its own consideration.
The Constituent States hereby severally agree and bind
themselves under no circumstances to address to any other
Constituent State an ultimatum or anything in the nature of a threat
of forcible reprisals or naval or military operations, or actually to
commence hostilities against such State, or to violate its territory, or
to attack its ships, otherwise than by way of repelling and defeating a
forcible attack actually made by naval or military force, before a
matter in dispute, if not of a justiciable character as defined in these
Articles, has been submitted to or taken into consideration by the
International Council as aforesaid for investigation, modification and
report, and during a period of one year from the date of such
submission or consideration.
The International Council may appoint a Permanent Board of
Conciliators for dealing with all such questions, differences or
disputes as they arise, and may constitute the Board either on the
nomination of the several Constituent States or otherwise, in such
manner, upon such conditions and for such term or terms as the
Council may decide.
When any question, difference or dispute, not of a justiciable
character as defined in these Articles, is submitted to or taken into
consideration by the International Council as aforesaid, the Council
shall, with the least possible delay, take action, either (1) by referring
the matter at issue to the Permanent Board of Conciliators, or (2) by
appointing a Special Committee, whether exclusively of the Council
or otherwise, to enquire into the matter and report, or (3) by
appointing a Commission of Enquiry to investigate the matter and
report, or (4) by itself taking the matter into consideration.
The Constituent States hereby agree and bind themselves,
whether or not they are parties to any such matter at issue, to give
all possible facilities to the International Council, to the Permanent
Board of Conciliators, to any Committee or Commission of Enquiry
appointed by either of them, and to any duly accredited officer of any
of these bodies, for the successful discharge of their duties.
When any matter at issue is referred to the Board of Conciliation,
or to a Special Committee, or to a Commission of Enquiry, such
Board, Committee or Commission shall, if at any time during its
proceedings it succeeds in bringing about an agreement between
the parties upon the matter at issue, immediately report such
agreement to the International Council; but, if no such agreement be
reached, such Board, Committee or Commission shall, so soon as it
has finished its enquiries, and in any case within six months, make a
report to the International Council, stating the facts of the case and
making any recommendations for a decision that are deemed
expedient.
When a report is made to the International Council by any such
Board, Committee or Commission that an agreement has been
arrived at between the parties, the Council shall embody such
agreement, with a recital of its terms, in a resolution of the Council.
When any other report is made to the Council by any such Board,
Committee or Commission, or when the Council itself has taken the
matter at issue into consideration, the Council shall, after taking all
the facts into consideration, and within a period of three months,
come to a decision on the subject, and shall embody such decision
in a resolution of the Council. Such resolution shall, if necessary, be
arrived at by voting, and shall be published, together with any report
on the subject, in the Official Gazette.
A resolution of the Council embodying a decision settling a matter
at issue between Constituent States shall be obligatory and binding
on all the Constituent States, including all the parties to the matter at
issue, if either it is passed unanimously by all the members of the
Council present and voting; or where the proposed enactment does
not affect the independent sovereignty or the territorial integrity, nor
require any change in the internal laws of any State, and where such
enactment shall have been assented to by a three-fourths majority of
the votes given by the representatives present and voting.