The Panopticon is Thriving: Elf on the Shelf Surveillance and the Rockettes

The Elf on the Shelf tradition, where a doll monitors children's behavior and reports back to Santa, raises concerns about surveillance and behavioral control, akin to Foucault's panopticon concept. This parallels modern surveillance issues, highlighted by a recent incident where facial recognition tech at Radio City Music Hall identified and barred a woman due to her association with a law firm in litigation against Madison Square Garden. This incident underscores the growing, often unconsented, use of surveillance technologies in society, posing significant ethical and legal challenges. As surveillance becomes normalized from childhood through to adulthood, protecting personal autonomy and privacy becomes increasingly crucial.

Summary Points

• Elf on the Shelf Surveillance: The Elf on the Shelf, marketed as a Christmas tradition, surveils children from Thanksgiving to Christmas, reporting back to Santa. This concept has sparked debates about its impact on children's perception of surveillance and behavioral control.

• Foucault and Surveillance: The idea of surveillance influencing behavior can be linked to Michel Foucault's concept of the panopticon, where people alter their behavior due to the possibility of being watched. This parallels Santa’s omniscience and the Elf on the Shelf’s role in modern culture.

• Facial Recognition Concerns: A recent incident at Radio City Music Hall highlighted the invasive nature of facial recognition technology. A woman was barred from the venue due to her association with a law firm in litigation against Madison Square Garden, raising concerns about privacy and surveillance.

• Real-World Implications: The use of facial recognition technology and biometric data collection is growing, often without individuals’ consent. This raises significant ethical and legal questions, especially when such technology is flawed or used in policing.

• Surveillance Society: The normalization of surveillance from childhood, through mechanisms like the Elf on the Shelf, to adulthood, with pervasive real-world surveillance, poses a challenge to personal autonomy and privacy. The implications of these technologies and their impact on society need ongoing scrutiny and regulation.

Full Post

When I was a kid, I believed Santa was all-seeing. However, the idea of sending agents like the Elf on the Shelf to watch you at home and school seems to take the concept of surveillance for behavioral control even further. There’s been much debate about what Foucault would think of Santa and the Elf on the Shelf, considering the implications of surveillance on society. Welcome to Tech and T; we’re still in the holiday spirit, and today, we’re discussing Elf on the Shelf surveillance and a recent incident with the Rockettes.

The Elf on the Shelf is marketed as a Christmas tradition, where a doll sent by Santa watches kids between Thanksgiving and Christmas, reporting back on their behavior. Despite its recent popularity, this wasn’t something I saw growing up until about fifth grade. Joe, my co-host, experienced it differently, having had an Elf every year. The Elf on the Shelf, while seemingly harmless, raises interesting questions about surveillance and behavioral control, especially when compared to Foucault’s panopticon—a structure where inmates behave as if they are always being watched, altering their behavior accordingly.

This brings us to a troubling incident involving facial recognition technology at Radio City Music Hall. A woman was barred from seeing the Rockettes because the facial recognition system identified her as a lawyer from a firm in litigation against Madison Square Garden. This raises significant concerns about privacy and surveillance, especially when such measures are used without individuals’ knowledge or consent.

The pervasive nature of surveillance in our society extends beyond holiday traditions. With facial recognition, biometric data collection, and constant monitoring in public spaces, the right to privacy is increasingly threatened. Activists like Hong emphasize the difficulty in opting out of real-world surveillance, unlike the more straightforward process online. This technology is often flawed, leading to wrongful identification and potential abuse, especially in policing contexts.

As society becomes more accustomed to surveillance from childhood through mechanisms like the Elf on the Shelf to adulthood with pervasive real-world surveillance, we must consider the ethical and legal implications. The normalization of surveillance poses a challenge to personal autonomy and privacy, and it’s crucial to scrutinize and regulate these technologies to protect individuals' rights.

Stay tuned for more discussions on this topic in future episodes of Tech and T.