Jerry Brito on Turning the Tables on the Surveillance State
Who watches the watchers? You.
Sousveillance is the recording of an activity by a participant in that activity, and it can be thought of as the inverse of surveillance. The word "sur" in French means "over" or "above," hence surveillance is "watching from above" or "overseeing." The word "sous," by contrast, means "under" or "below." To date, "veillance" has only been available to the powerful–whether through corporate or government CCTV cams perched atop buildings or utility poles. But, writes Jerry Brito, with the advent of cheap wearable computers, we will all soon be able to point a camera back at the powers that be from below.