Inventing the Surveillance Society
The Lemelson Center's
2013 New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation Symposium
October 25, 2013
Warner Bros. Theater, National Museum of American History
We are being watched. When we enter a building, place a phone call, swipe a credit card, or visit a website, our actions are observed, recorded, and often analyzed by commercial and government entities. Surveillance technologies are omnipresent—a fact underscored by the Boston Marathon bombing dragnet and the revelations of widespread domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency. We live in a “surveillance society” driven by a range of innovations, from closed-circuit TV cameras to sophisticated data mining algorithms. How did our surveillance society emerge, and what is the effect of ubiquitous surveillance on our everyday lives?
Inventing the Surveillance Society brings together scholars, inventors, policymakers, members of the media, and the public to explore the role of invention in a world where our actions (and transactions) are constantly monitored. Will we find a balance between privacy and security?
All events are free and open to the public.
Camera image above by Silver Spoon (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons
