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This chart has been making the rounds, generating predictable responses like “China is a #surveillance state!”, “London is №4‽”, and back-patting that $CURRENT_LOCATION isn't anything like China or London!
Well, pervasive surveillance is closer to home than you might think… https://twitter.com/StatistaCharts/status/1286277119950159872
Well, pervasive surveillance is closer to home than you might think… https://twitter.com/StatistaCharts/status/1286277119950159872
Brown University has deployed 1 surveillance camera for every ~18 community members (i.e., faculty, students & staff), placing it just shy of London, but ahead of *every* Chinese city except Taiyuan and Wuxi.
In other words: Brown University has about as many surveillance cameras as it does full-time faculty (of which it has 816)!
It wasn't always like this.
According to @chronicle: In 2000, Brown only had 60 cameras, mostly surveilling parking lots and computer labs. A smattering surveilled the Student Center's club storage areas, too. https://www.chronicle.com/article/smile-youre-on-campus-camera/
According to @chronicle: In 2000, Brown only had 60 cameras, mostly surveilling parking lots and computer labs. A smattering surveilled the Student Center's club storage areas, too. https://www.chronicle.com/article/smile-youre-on-campus-camera/
That year, Brown overhauled its fragmented VCR-based system into a fully-digital one — enabling Public Safety to monitor its cameras en masse from a central command center. The University also formalized a policy guiding the appropriate use of its cameras.
This infrastructure development didn't blanket Brown in cameras overnight — and so at first, it went mostly unnoticed — but it marked a paradigm shift in Brown's *capacity* for video surveillance.
Of course, the *capacity* for more surveillance soon *became* more surveillance…
Of course, the *capacity* for more surveillance soon *became* more surveillance…
By 2003, the total had increased to 105 cameras. The locations surveilled by these new cameras included Faunce's game room and the Main Green.
This was a big increase, and some students complained.
This was a big increase, and some students complained.
By 2007, the number of cameras had climbed to ~185, with 16 newly-installed cameras monitoring the Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library. https://www.browndailyherald.com/2007/04/05/16-recently-installed-security-cameras-now-monitor-scili/
It's around this point that our school's newspaper, @the_herald, noticed there were, like, a *LOT* of cameras — three times the number present just eight years prior! https://www.browndailyherald.com/2008/01/10/surveillance-cameras-on-campus-triple/
…and there wasn't an end in sight: “When you're getting into the investigative side, you couldn't have enough cameras,” said David Cardoza of @Brown_DPS to @the_herald.
(This is also when @the_herald asks @Brown_DPS to see that policy drafted back in 2000 guiding the appropriate use of these cameras. @Brown_DPS declined.)
By 2011, Brown has 250 cameras. Their unblinking stare is now almost unremarkable.
“I haven't noticed them,” says one student interviewed by @the_herald. https://www.browndailyherald.com/2011/03/10/more-cameras-installed-on-campus/
“I haven't noticed them,” says one student interviewed by @the_herald. https://www.browndailyherald.com/2011/03/10/more-cameras-installed-on-campus/
In December 2013, the Campus Safety Task Force touted that Brown had deployed 430 cameras, and an array of 74 storage units for their footage. Additional cameras are planned for the coming year.
@the_herald doesn't remark on the increase.
https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/corporation/policy-and-planning/sites/brown.edu.about.administration.corporation.policy-and-planning/files/uploads/Campus%20Safety%20Task%20Force%20Interim%20Report%20December%202013.pdf#page=3
@the_herald doesn't remark on the increase.
https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/corporation/policy-and-planning/sites/brown.edu.about.administration.corporation.policy-and-planning/files/uploads/Campus%20Safety%20Task%20Force%20Interim%20Report%20December%202013.pdf#page=3
Finally, in February 2020, Brown deployed its first camera to surveil the interior of a dormitory. The total number of surveillance cameras reaches approximately 800. https://www.browndailyherald.com/2020/02/21/cameras-installed-hegeman-hall/
As with most of Brown's surveillance cameras, it was installed at the behest of the Office of Residential Life (not DPS!) to address a specific, well-justified, immediate need.
If it succeeds, will it be removed? Or, will it be the first of many more? That is still uncertain.
If it succeeds, will it be removed? Or, will it be the first of many more? That is still uncertain.
Brown's remarkable tenfold increase in video surveillance capacity over 20 years is only a *small* slice of its broader monitoring capabilities, which also include security guards, WiFi access point logs, and building access control systems.
None of these systems are unusual or nefarious. Nonetheless, they grant Brown University an unprecedented degree insight into the movements of students that's hard to resist when the need arises.
This includes systems that were never conceived of as surveillance mechanisms…
This includes systems that were never conceived of as surveillance mechanisms…
For instance, the access logs of Brown's WiFi mesh network (which blankets College Hill) were used this Fall to automatically identify “remote” students who were secretly residing in or visiting Providence against Brown's orders. https://www.browndailyherald.com/2020/09/28/remote-students-receive-emails-brown-accusing-violating-code-student-conduct/
This is all to say: You don't need to look to China to imagine what pervasive surveillance feels like. If you are affiliated with a university, you are probably already experiencing it — and you probably didn't notice, much less react.
Welcome to the panopti-campus.
Welcome to the panopti-campus.
