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Grappling with surveillance before datafication: McCoy, T. (1991). Surveillance, Privacy and Power: Information trumps Knowledge. Communications, 16(1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1515/comm.1991.16.1.33
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education, Media and Communication Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0216-8862
2025 (English)In: Communications: the European Journal of Communication Research, ISSN 0341-2059, E-ISSN 1613-4087, Vol. 50, no 3, p. 590-595Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Thomas McCoy’s article “Surveillance, privacy and power: Information trumps knowledge” provokes a number of reflections of relevance for contemporary discussions within the field of media and communications. Not only is it an early example of introducing Foucauldian theory, it is also an early attempt at discussing questions related to database surveillance, something that anticipates today’s concept of “surveillance capitalism.” McCoy also highlights the tension between information and knowledge, although his definitions of these concepts remain a bit vague. Lastly, he also takes on the discussion of privacy in relation to database surveillance. Although McCoy could not have predicted the full extent of today’s datafication, his concerns about surveillance anticipate contemporary debates.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Walter de Gruyter, 2025. Vol. 50, no 3, p. 590-595
Keywords [en]
surveillance, data, privacy, power, information, knowledge
National Category
Media and Communication Studies
Research subject
Digital transformations
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-58103DOI: 10.1515/commun-2024-0150ISI: 001581047600005Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105020986855OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-58103DiVA, id: diva2:1998672
Available from: 2025-09-17 Created: 2025-09-17 Last updated: 2025-12-08Bibliographically approved

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Bolin, Göran

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
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  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
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  • html
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  • asciidoc
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