Panopticon

Many journalists claim that “if we’re not careful, we’ll end up in a ‘Big Brother’-type society”. They’re too late. Here are two perspectives on this:

First, from Simon Jenkins

When the council can bug you for fly-tipping, when prisons can record conversations with defence lawyers, when any potentially criminal act can justify electronic intrusion – and when ministers resort to the dictator’s excuse, “The innocent need not fear” – warning bells should sound.

And a lighter, but equally powerful video

The title of this post, ‘panopticon’, refers to a prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, where all inmates can be watched from a single location, and don’t know whether they are being watched or not. The idea is that this will make them behave all the time, for fear that they could be under surveillance.

I think one of the saddest things about the ‘Big Brother state’ is that its main premise is flawed- people who are motivated to break the law aren’t really discouraged by the ‘threat’ of surveillance. So the huge price we’ve paid (selling up a massive chunk of our civil liberties) buys nothing.

Clean desk = open mind?

Because of radical changes to our office layout in the past few weeks. all of our team have had to clear their desks and consider their filing habits much more than usual.

I’ve actually found the discipline of keeping a clear desk (by which I mean, empty in-tray, nothing else except phone and computer) has really helped my sense of organisation and productivity. I have the feeling that I can choose my own priorities- that I can choose what is important over what is urgent. I also appreciate having the space to spread out whatever it is I’m currently working on!

That said, I can see how keeping things filed and clearing one’s desk could easily become a substitute for ‘real’ work.