E.L.U. de Punzonamiento

All surveillance systems are located in a particular economic, cultural and political, and historical context (Lyon, 1994). These contexts are often complex without a straightforward depiction of control and power over a particular group (though that is certainly a component and an aim). Through the detailed analysis of individual cases of the introduction of surveillance, the complexity of these circumstances becomes clear. The motivations are multi-layered - the

introduction of a surveillance system is generally one aspect of a larger

ideological project. Second, there is generally a gulf between the intention and the practice of the surveillance systems. Lastly, the power relations are seldom straightforward. Popular notions of ‘Big Brother’ are uncovered as grossly simplistic.

The complex circumstances of surveillance systems illustrate how surveillance systems grow. These surveillance practices are entangled within broader

debates and are presented as practical solutions to social problems. Surveillance systems are often presented as a crucial component of policies which attract high levels of public support. It is difficult to extricate the negative impact of surveillance from the potential positive impact of the overall proposal. This complexity of the particular context also complicates the development of any resistance to the surveillance practices. If it is difficult to articulate the context, the motivations, the difference between the intention and practice and to decipher clearly who is in control then it will also be difficult to effectively articulate a critique of the situation. Traditional acts of resistance are less effective when it is impossible to sum up the critique in a soundbite or in a slogan on a poster and when the relationship between those introducing the surveillance and those opposed is not straightforward.

This chapter examines the dispute over the introduction of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in every taxicab in the city of Philadelphia. This was primarily a dispute between the drivers (as represented by the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania) and the regulatory body (the Philadelphia Parking Authority) which began with the takeover of regulatory responsibilities by the PPA in 2004

and continues today. However, the focus of this case study will be upon the initial introduction of the ‘Technology Enhancement Project’ which included the introduction of GPS and the subsequent efforts of the drivers to come together as a collective body to challenge the scheme. The dispute between the two groups shows no sign of waning and, in light of very recent legal successes by the TWA, will likely increase in the future. The approach of this chapter, then, is a historical one which seeks to provide the context and narrative around the introduction of GPS in the taxicabs. It is an enlightening illustration of how surveillance systems are implemented within a specific context and the difficulties which arise on the part of surveyor and surveyed. Additionally, an analysis of the formation of the Taxi Workers Alliance, highlights the complex nature of collective action in the post-industrial context. As will be discussed, there were a number of serious hurdles which the organisers faced in their attempts to bring drivers together in order to challenge the scheme. These difficulties demonstrate both the inadequacy of present notions of resistance to surveillance and demonstrate the need to develop a new theoretical framework for understanding resistance to surveillance. For this reason, the focus of this case study is on the context in which the surveillance was introduced, the intricate power struggles which it compounded, the inherent flaws within the motivations and, most importantly, the difficulties faced in the formation of a challenge to the system. While the ongoing dispute and controversy are important and interesting, the focus here is on the initial stages of the surveillance programme in order to highlight the complex nature of the programme and the dispute.

This case study is informed by an analysis of primary sources, press coverage and through discussions with Ronald Blount, President of the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania. Meetings were held with Mr. Blount in December 2006 (also with TWA-PA organiser and driver Tekle Gebremdhin), July 2007 (also with TWA-PA organisers and drivers Tekle Gebremdhin and Steve Chervenka) and January 2008. Mr. Blount provided context and background information regarding the Taxi Workers Alliance’s dispute with the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Information was verified through analysis of publicly

available court and government documents. This chapter avoids

over-personalising the debate through the use of direct quotes from the drivers and maintains a focus upon the processes entangled within the dispute between drivers and the Philadelphia Parking Authority. This chapter focuses on

depicting the complex nature of the dispute and how it involved not just the taxi drivers but various organisations and actors including different levels of the city and state governments, government agencies, city organisations, etc.

While presenting a specific case study, the approach in this chapter, in keeping with the tone of the rest of this thesis, is to demonstrate the complexity of surveillance processes and how surveillance systems enacted at a local and specific level are intertwined with broader processes and discourses such as, in this case, urban renewal, crime and debates over immigration. Methods within this thesis as a whole have drawn upon a diverse range of empirical material in order to explore and illustrate how surveillance systems function and how individuals interact with these systems in different ways. The following chapter, Chapter 5, takes a much broader approach with an overview of many different forms of engagement with the consumption of surveillance. This is done in

order to explore and highlight the extent to which individuals engage with surveillance in a myriad of ways every day. Chapter 6 provides a survey of artistic explorations of surveillance in order to vividly illustrate how the

conceptual tools developed in Chapter 2 and 3 can be operationalised. However, the approach with this chapter is a detailed analysis of how one particular

instance of surveillance is embedded and entwined with broader processes highlighting the ideologies of surveillance and the complexities of resistance.

This case study is a vivid demonstration of how struggles over the ‘right to the city’ are played out on a daily basis.

This case study illustrates how surveillance systems grow in the post-industrial city and the difficulties in contesting these systems in light of a number of

factors which challenge traditional notions of resistance in an industrial context.

In regards to how it demonstrates the growth of surveillance, this case study is wrapped up in a narrative about urban renewal, the re-positioning of the post-industrial city, power struggles within the city, weakening relationships and emerging suspicion between communities and between (and with) various workforces, the difficulties in managing mobile industries and the focus on technologically based solutions for management and monitoring of urban environments. All of this contributes to the increasing difficulties in challenging new systems of surveillance. These difficulties include the weakening of unions, decreasing solidarity amongst workers and with the community, changing labour force, changing and complex nature of power relations, and the difficulty in articulating an opposition to technology which is otherwise embraced.

This is a case that involves a city government suing the state government, taxicab drivers and owners (generally assumed to be wrapped up in disputes with each other) suing the regulator and the various levels of the court system struggling to determine whose jurisdiction any of this belongs in, who actually has control and what forms of control are legitimate. Add in scandals over bribes and preferential treatment, apparent collusion between the regulator and the police and immigration services and, most bizarre, the strange instance of the president of the taxi union charged with assault of a passenger that appears to have been, at least at some level, orchestrated by the regulator with which the union is in dispute. The Philadelphia Parking Authority seeks to improve its image through the development of a reality television programme ironically entitled, ‘Parking Wars’ while the city as a whole seeks any means to improve its image despite very high crime rates. It all seems like a lost season of the Wire where the show moves up I-95 two hours from Baltimore to Philadelphia. This case study demonstrates, as the Wire did, “the effects of the post-industrial transformation of the US economy” (Penfold-Mounce, Beer and Burrows, 2011:

156). In this sense, this case study is a narrative about post-industrialism and how this transformation has led to the emergence of expanding surveillance systems and, in addition, rendered traditional methods of collective action and resistance as insufficient to challenge the introduction of surveillance. While this chapter focuses on the example of Philadelphia, similar trends are found elsewhere. Roy Coleman, in a similar analysis of Liverpool, points out that what is occurring in post-industrial cities like Liverpool and Philadelphia as “a

merging of crime control/prevention with a broader strategy seeking to manage some notions of quality of life, that reflects the re-imaging of place” (Coleman, 2003: 24). In some ways, this rebranding is necessary. Philadelphia, for

example, never fell to the level of other post-industrial cities. It is not another Detroit, Pittsburgh or Baltimore. However, what is highlighted below are the tensions and consequences within this process of re-defining the post-industrial city.

4.3. Background Context: Philadelphia, post-industrialism and