The Eyes Are Watching
There will come a time when it isn’t “They’re spying on me through my phone” anymore. Eventually, it will be “My phone is spying on me.’” (Philip K. Dick)
As you may well know, I read, study, and write about science fiction. Among science fiction readers and critics, they have a cliché that goes “we are living in a science fiction world.” What they mean is that so many of the things (gadgets, scenarios, situations) from science fiction have come true. Mind you, science fiction is wrong more often than it is right. Even so, fans have an uncanny sense that the world we now live in more and more resembles the worlds that science fiction has presented to us.
We have a working space station. We have commercial flights into space. We have tricorders (devices that diagnose patients). We have instantaneous global communications networks. We have AI taking over many functions of personal and professional life.
And we have a wide network of surveillance cameras and technologies. The US writer Philip K. Dick was particularly attuned to this phenomenon. He often imaged a dystopian future in which we were all surveilled at all times. It is inescapable. Inside our homes/apartments (which he called “conapts”) and outside them. In your kitchen and in the department store. And through our phones.
If you ever have that feeling that you are being surveilled, you may not be wrong. By comparison, the US has relatively low rates of CCTV cameras. In China, the large cities average 439 cameras per 1,000 citizens. India is not far behind. For example, Hyderabad has 60.57 cameras per 1,000 people. London trails with a fairly “modest” 13.21 per 1,000.
In the United States, we have fewer surveillance cameras, though the numbers are only growing. Atlanta has the largest number of surveillance cameras. It has 48.93 cameras per 1,000 citizens. Denver, DC, and San Fran trail with 16 (and change) per 1,000. Chicago has 11.68 per 1,000 people.
What does that all mean? Well, it means that we are being watched. A lot. It means that we are captured by a camera dozens of times per day. It means that government organizations are watching us. It means that corporations are watching us. It also means that private citizens are watching us. The above statistics include CCTV; they do not, however, include private devices such as Ring doorbells. In 2021, for example, citizens had installed 11.7 million doorbell cameras.
Why are we being surveilled so much? Many of the obvious reasons apply: to deter crime, to catch criminals, to aid prosecution. In some cases, they are installed to track and analyze the movement of citizens ad vehicles in order to improve traffic flow. In some cases, they are installed to watch particular groups of people. Think of it as an extension of racial profiling.
Corporations also deploy CCTV to deter crime. Stores do lose, after all, millions of dollars per year to shoplifting and robbery. (That is, of course, chump change compared to the millions stolen by white collar criminals. That’s another post.) Corporations (à la Philip K. Dick) track the movements of (potential) customers. They watch the traffic move in front of the stores. They watch people enter the store and see where they go. They see which departments are frequented most. They rearrange stores to ensure traffic to particular departments. They watch what items a customer picks up, tries on, puts back, or buys. They will pop up coupons in store, tailored to the customer. They will send emails to the customer based on in-store habits. They will change the price of items depending on customer movements. A science fiction world, indeed.
These are not the only surveillance technologies, either. Agencies can use AI to sift through electronic communications. Internet search histories, emails, texts, and other forms of communication can be surveilled. All of these suggest, as Donna Haraway wrote in 1984, “the final imposition of a grid of control on the planet” (15).
In the wake of several recent Supreme Court decisions, and in the wake of numerous states passing restrictive legislation, however, surveillance technologies are being used for another purpose: to monitor and punish those seeking abortions and/or gender-affirming care.
In July 2023, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) issued a report on the developing practice. They begin:
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down constitutional protections for abortion. One year later, 15 states enacted abortion bans, and half of states have tried. Gender-affirming care restrictions also exploded in the same period: 142 bills were introduced across the U.S. in 2023, 20 states have already banned gender-affirming care for youth, and seven have banned it for people of all ages. These restrictions force healthcare providers to turn away patients in vast regions of the U.S., from Texas to Florida and across much of the American heartland. In turn, healthcare seekers and their families have foregone vital care or traveled far from their homes and across state lines in search of the care they need.
According to the STOP report, state agencies use all kinds of surveillance data, in particular data from smartphones, including search histories and geolocation data, but also license plate data and Über and Lyft data. They have even tracked bikesharing data. These agencies also track other transportation information including airplane tickets and subway tickets. Further, they track motel/hotel reservations and stays, short-term rental information, and they track private homes.
Of particular interest to state agencies and to anti-abortion proponents is car travel. It is the easiest to track.
Automated surveillance of cars is now pervasive, making it nearly impossible to travel untracked in a car. Automated license plate readers (“ALPRs”) blanket U.S. streets and highways, where they photograph vehicles and use optical character recognition to extract license plate numbers. Plate numbers are stored with cameras’ locations and date/time information — sometimes even photos of drivers and passengers. . . . ALPR data is the tip of the car data iceberg. It can be supplemented with data from license plate readers at parking garages and parking lots, which can be used to track known healthcare travelers or to identify unknown ones.
All of this data can be used to track movements in state for abortion of gender-affirming care, and it can be used to track out-of-state travel for those services, as well. Historically, states have had little say in what we do in neighboring states. That’s changing.
All of these technologies are used to track both health care providers and patients seeking care.
STOP’s report concludes:
State bans on vital healthcare are creating a crisis right here in the U.S.. State laws that counter these bans by creating healthcare sanctuaries help travelers. But as long as states, private companies, and federal agencies continue to restrict or prohibit anonymous travel and cash payment, and collect and leak healthcare seekers’ personal data — travel data, healthcare data, smartphone data, payment data — they will not effectively shield healthcare seekers from investigation and prosecution.
All of that is, perhaps, not surprising if you have been paying attention — or if you have been reading science fiction. Nevertheless, it is also a portrait of a dystopian future come to life. Fundamental rights gone. State and corporate interests sharing data in order to impose control and limitations.
Obviously one can takes steps to minimize all of these surveillance. One can not use a smart phone. One can pay in cash. One can drive on back roads. Etc. Etc. But A) none of that is enough to evade the grid of surveillance, and B) it should not be necessary. Our private data is being shared to entities that want to limit our rights of freedom of movement.
True, the Supreme Court has recently ruled against personal expectations of privacy. They have argued that state agencies have compelling interests in obtaining cell metadata and data. They have argued that corporations can violate the users privacy for purposes of revenue or compliance with requests.
Cameras are everywhere. Satellite and GPS data are omnipresent. And individual rights are under assault. Roe was the “law of the land.” Roe ensured that those seeking an abortion had the Constitutional right to do so. The Roe case argued that the decision for an abortion — and by extension gender-affirming care — was a personal choice, and was a discussion to be had between the patient and their health care provider. Post-Roe, politicians make those decisions for patients and families, and they employ surveillance technology to ensure compliance.
So, we’re living in a dystopian science fiction world. In much of Golden Age science fiction, the argument was — frequently — that the technology would save us. The rocket ship would take us away from and endangered planet; the supercomputer would provide a solution, a vaccine would stop a deadly outbreak. In today’s dystopian fiction, the technology will aid in our demise. But here’s the thing, science fiction often gives us a possible road map for rebellion.
That roadmap may be surveilled, but it’s a necessary trip, anyway.
Ritch Calvin is an Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at SUNY Stony Brook. He is the author of Queering SF: Readings, Feminist Epistemology and Feminist Science Fiction, and edited a collection of essays on Gilmore Girls. His most recent book is Queering SF: Readings (Aqueduct Press).
