Stalking via mobile phone

SmartMobs points to an article about teens who are harassed by their boyfriends or girlfriends via phones and computers:

nearly 25 per cent of teens in a relationship had received hourly text messages or phone calls to check up on them between midnight and 5 a.m. One out of six said they had received messages 10 or more times an hour overnight.

SmartMobs subtitles the article "Always-On Panopticon," but as I argued last night in my talk, it's less like a Panopticon (which assumes centralized, hierarchical control) and more like Michel Serres' description of the agora, in which everyone knows everyone else's business. Not pervasive surveillance by authorities, but pervasive surveillance by anyone.

Smart Mobs: Jealous teenagers

technorati tags:panopticon, agora, surveillance

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