Surveillance Society and the Suspicious Classes

[Shana A]

Surveillance Society and the Suspicious Classes
April 23rd, 2008 by SocProf

http://globalsociology.edublogs.org/2008/04/23/surveillance-society-and-the-suspicious-classes/

So, the French government decides to have this great database of criminal profiles to be shared among various law enforcement agencies. The software, named "Ardoise" ("chalkboard" in French) creates files for suspects and criminals with various categories, and this is where you-know-what hit the fan, according to Le Monde:

Le ministère de l'intérieur met fin à l'expérimentation du logiciel Ardoise
LEMONDE.FR | 22.04.08

© Le Monde.fr

What categories are used in the database? "Runaway teenager", "senior", "homeless", "union organizer", "homosexual", "transsexual", because, to use David Lyon's expression, these social categories, none of them criminal in nature, are then defined as "suspicious categories" that deserve classification in a criminal database.