Social Network from the Perspective of Surveillance Theory

The paper concentrates on the general trend of extending the surveillance as it is nicely captured in the case of online social network Facebook. The text emphasized the omnipresence and hidden techniques used for mining of personal data, as depicted on the phenomenon of consumer surveillance. Data kept in the in databases create a virtual image of an individual that subsequently replaces him in the cyberspace, which leads to discrimination of the individual due to an unequal access to products and information. On introducing the surveillant assemblage the paper shows how the modern surveillance has multiple sources and its object can be anyone who is browsing the internet. Main source for the analysis are the works of Surveillance Studies, most prominently the Canadian sociologist David Lyon. The work centers on defining what part of social sciences field in the age of IT technologies occupies the panopticon - the key concept of surveillance studies - and what new aspects of surveillance are appearing in the society thanks to the development of internet and especially the social networks