The Panopticons are a series of 21st-century landmarks erected across East Lancashire, England, as symbols of the renaissance of the area (not to be confused with Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon).
posted by homunculus on Jan 31, 2008 - 16 comments

Myanmar is apparently using photos sent to websites, television stations and other media to arrest protesters taking a cue from and praising(!) China's post-handling of Tienamen square in '89. Relations are mighty cozy between the two nations (according to the big one), but the words "vassal state" are starting to be bandied about.
posted by telstar on Oct 8, 2007 - 35 comments

Panopticon : a type of prison, designed by a philosopher, that through a cunning scheme of probability, architecture and observation provides the 'sentiment of an invisible omniscience'.
posted by 31d1 on Nov 12, 2006 - 51 comments

Architectures of Control in Design. A blog examining product designs intended to restrict or enforce behavior. In the built environment, we see speed bumps and roundabouts with intentionally obscured visibility; in the digital environment, we see various species of DRM and trusted computing; and in other commerical products, we see car hoods only openable by licensed dealers, printer cartridges for only one sort of printer, and a set of shoes for children which detects the amount of steps they take in a day and translates that activity into the amount of TV they may watch. The control may be for economic reasons, for reasons of safety, or even simply to enforce social nicety - and for each of these reasons are the implications worth regarding . [via the excellent things]
posted by Sticherbeast on Sep 14, 2006 - 27 comments