"Reflectionism" and "Diffusionism": New Tactics for Deconstructing the Video Surveillance Superhighway

The recent proliferation of video surveillance cameras interconnected with high-speed computers and central databases is moving us toward a high-speed “surveillance superhighway,” as cameras are used throughout entire cities to monitor citizens in public areas. As businesses work alongside governments to build this superhighway and expand it into private areas as well, there is a growing need to develop methodologies of questioning these practices. The goal of this paper is to stimulate inquiry into both surveillance and the rhetoric used to justify its use. “Reflectionism” is proposed as a new philosophical and tactical framework that takes the Situationist tradition of appropriating the methodology of the oppressor one step further by targeting that methodology directly against the oppressor. The oppressor then becomes the audience of a performance resulting from this new use of his or her own methodology.