Farren and Gibb are correct when they say that the only things we can do about surveillance technologies is to get use to them. The advancement of the technology has come so far as to make it all but impossible to contain it. In a larger context this is because we depend on it in the first place. This dependence is encouraged by our own use of surveillance, tracking technologies and our voyeuristic desire to see ourselves and others.
The need of these technologies in the commercial and governmental sectors is insatiable. The commercial aspect can be anything from security for your home to selling products on the internet. The desire for more information about consumers drives businesses to seek out more direct ways to target their customers and sell more products. This can be something as simple and personal as recommendations from websites such as Amazon, or Netflix (p. 42, Farren &ump; Gibb, 2007). Super markets use club/loyalty cards which provide discounts in exchange for tracking a person's or households purchases. All of these purchases are matched up to someones name and address. This information can than be cross checked with other records that can form an image of a person (p. 41, Farren &ump; Gibb, 2007) . This data can be sold or mined and reconfigured, it has even provided a tool to be used for political purposes. The political side of consumer purchases allow for direct targeting by political parties such as the Bush campaign in 2004 (p. 43, Farren &ump; Gibb, 2007). Membership in political parties has always been an matter of public record but what is not is more personal characteristics and habits. What one party can do to raise funds and turn out the vote another could use to intimidate or suppress by targeting the opposition. What can be seen as the height of this kind of targeting and information is Acxiom with its depth and reach in information