Surveillance After September 11 - (Themes for the 21st Century) by David Lyon (Paperback)

About the Book

This timely work examines the issues around surveillance which have gathered in importance since the events of September 11th.

From the Back Cover

Prominent among the quests for post-9/11 security are developments in surveillance, especially at national borders. These developments are not new, but many of them have been extended and intensified. The result? More and more people and populations are counted as "suspicious" and, at the same time, surveillance techniques become increasingly opaque and secretive. Lyon argues that in the aftermath of 9/11 there have been qualitative changes in the security climate: diverse databases containing personal information are being integrated; biometric identifiers, such as iris scans, are becoming more popular; consumer data are merged with those obtained for policing and intelligence, both nationally and across borders. This all contributes to the creation of ever-widening webs of surveillance. But these systems also sort people into categories for differential treatment, the most obvious case being that of racial profiling. This book assesses the consequences of these trends. Lyon argues that while extraordinary legal measures and high-tech systems are being adopted, promises made on their behalf - that terrorism can be prevented - are hard to justify. Furthermore, intensifying surveillance will have social consequences whose effects could be far-reaching: the undermining of social trust and of democratic participation.

Review Quotes

"Since September 11, surveillance has been stepped up throughout most of the world. Governments and businesses monitor personal behavior and analyze a host of data that individuals are often unaware they generate. But both privacy and open political participation are under challenge. In this context, David Lyon offers a welcome overview and a wise sense of the many issues that intersect in new forms and intensity of surveillance. He neither exaggerates nor underestimates the major issues before us now."

Craig Calhoun, Social Science Research Council, New York

"David Lyon provides a chilling and comprehensive account of the surveillance response to 9/11 by nation-states and corporations. His writing is exceptionally clear and graceful, his scholarship is impeccable, and his judgment is fair and wise."Mark Poster, University of California

"A devastating critique on the attempt to engineer security through ever-increasing surveillance capabilities. Lyon brilliantly shows us how these begin to function as a clandestine power that erodes democracy in the name of our wellbeing."

Saskia Sassen, author of Globalization and its Discontents

"Surveillance After September 11 provides the reader with a very useful analysis of past and current security trends, along with predictions of possible future devlopments, in the context of global social change. Lyon's book provides us with a useful, relevant, clear-minded starting-point."

International Journal of Contemporary Sociology

About the Author

Professor of Sociology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada