Invisible visibility

"Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers. The Panopticon is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad: in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen."
excerpt from 'Panopticism' in Foucault, Michel Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Alan Beswick on Radio Manchester talked recently about the local authorities in Bury, Lancashire putting electronic tags in wheely bins, in order, an official stated when asked, to find out how much rubbish we make. As Alan quickly and rightly pointed out, they already know that - they take the stuff away. Is the real reason nearer to getting information on how much individual households throw away so that, let's just say, they can charge us a higher rate if we have a family of four, live alone, or with one partner? They don't say. But they know. Someone knows. It's just that they aren't telling us. So much for openness in government.

Even in the then Soviet Union, Mr. Gorbachev instigated a more open system of government. That led, little by little, and quite rapidly once it gained momentum, to the end of Soviet style government - full stop.

I wonder if local goverments in Britain fear the same will happen to them once word gets out that they are up to something beyond their remit as public servants.
Robert Leslie Fielding