ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rise of surveillance in technological environments and the spread of these environments to encompass more and more of what people typically have considered their private space. It reconsiders this notion of privacy as it has changed in educational and other contexts. The chapter also interrogates the matter of who actually is being helped or protected by policies that erode the sphere traditionally designated as private. In the context of public schools, state policies and procedures of record-keeping and examination are supposedly justified by a concern with the best interests of children, protecting them from indecency, harassment, exploitation, or their own illicit conduct. The chapter illustrates the choices about technology that promote certain types of opportunities and conveniences for the user that create certain privacy problems. The free exercise of communication and information-sharing by students has often been regarded by educators as mildly subversive.
