ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the limits of dominant surveillance paradigms that tie technological surveillance to security. These paradigms are described as security as technological domination. The chapter assesses how new digital and surveillance technologies, based on AI and machine learning, are conceptualised by those who develop and use them, as well as by surveillance subjects - those who are the targets of these technologies. It draws on extensive ethnographic research carried out primarily in Palestine/Israel between 2021 and 2023, as well as previous research in the region. The chapter considers new technologies’ dual role as important products for positioning the Israeli security sector as a leading brand in global technology markets, and in exerting dominance over Palestinians. Palestinian responses to new surveillance technologies - ranging from resignation to destruction and sabotage - highlight the overlooked significance of ‘response’ in the study of new technology. Considering the field of struggle around the introduction of innovative techniques of surveillance puts into question the inevitability of technological securitisation.
