The state has long relied on ordinary civilians to do surveillance work, but recent advances in networked technologies are expanding mechanisms for surveillance and social control. In this article, we analyze the phenomenon in which private individuals conduct surveillance on behalf of the state, often using private sector technologies to do so. We develop the concept of surveillance deputies to describe when ordinary people, rather than state actors, use their labor and economic resources to engage in such activity. Although surveillance deputies themselves are not new, their participation in everyday surveillance deputy work has rapidly increased under unique economic and technological conditions of our digital age. Drawing upon contemporary empirical examples, we hypothesize four conditions that contribute to surveillance deputization and strengthen its effects: (1) when interests between the state and civilians converge; (2) when law institutionalizes surveillance deputization or fails to clarify its boundaries; (3) when technological offerings expand personal surveillance capabilities; and (4) when unequal groups use surveillance to gain power or leverage resistance. In developing these hypotheses, we bridge research in law and society, sociology, surveillance studies, and science and technology studies and suggest avenues for future empirical investigation.

中文翻译：

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监察代表：当普通人为国家监察时

国家长期以来依赖普通平民进行监视工作，但网络技术的最新进展正在扩大监视和社会控制机制。在本文中，我们分析了私人代表国家进行监控的现象，通常使用私营部门技术来进行监控。我们开发了监视代表的概念来描述普通人（而不是国家行为者）何时利用他们的劳动力和经济资源参与此类活动。尽管监察代表本身并不新鲜，但在数字时代独特的经济和技术条件下，他们对日常监察代表工作的参与迅速增加。借鉴当代的经验例子，我们假设了四个有助于监视代理化并增强其效果的条件：（1）当国家与公民之间的利益趋同时；（二）法律将监察代理制度化或未明确其界限；(3) 当技术产品扩展个人监控能力时；(4) 当不平等群体利用监视来获得权力或利用阻力时。在提出这些假设时，我们将法律与社会、社会学、监视研究以及科学技术研究的研究联系起来，并为未来的实证研究提出了途径。