Just yesterday, California resident Cole White was fired from his job at Top Dog restaurant in Berkeley when he was also identified as one of the torch-wielding white nationalists.

And the reason why I bring all of this up is the same reason why many are now demanding that every police officer should be wearing a body-cam while on duty. For decades, people have decried what they perceived to be a growing surveillance state. As each year passed, more and more cameras were being installed by either the government or private corporations.

Regardless of what your opinion is on this particular matter, it could be reasonably argued today that the so-called surveillance state has recently received a monumental transformation. Rather than the government or private corporations surveilling the general population, the general population is now beginning to (willingly) surveil themselves via digital devices and geolocational applications, i.e. the birth of the self-surveillance state.

The problem, however, is that the balance of power in terms of surveillance is still very much in favor of the government and private corporations. There has been a slight shift as of late, but nothing too significant. According to a recent study by LDV Capital, by 2022, there should be around 45 billion cameras in operation around the world. That's 6 times more than the number of the total global population!

"If we master the arts of sousveillance or watching the watchers, then no matter what they know about us, there will be limits to what they can do to us."

- David Brin

This then brings us to a term that is starting to gain popularity throughout both tech and activist circles in light of this understanding: sousveillance. It's pretty clear that the surveillance state cannot be abolished. No matter how many IP or CCTV cameras anarchist activists destroy, they'll only be back in operation the next day.

Which is where sousveillance comes in: rather than abolishing the surveillance state, why not open-source it instead!? Privacy concerns will always remain, but in order to protect our privacy in this panopticon age that we live in, the powers-that-be need to be kept in check.

However, our privacy isn't the only thing that is in need of protection. Sousveillance laws are now being enforced throughout the United States to protect people from police corruption and brutality. By having on-duty cops to wear body-cams, it forces them to the realization that their corruption and brutality will no longer go un-watched; that there'll always be an eye on them.

Which brings us back to Charlottesville. Thanks to the power of the Internet, extremist groups like the white supremacists and neo-Nazis are now being forced into the realization that they can no longer hide. That if they wish to spread hatred and violence upon us, then we will fight back by exposing them to the entire world.

The term sousveillance may have originated with the intention of protecting privacy in the face of a growing surveillance state, but in light of what occurred in Charlottesville, now is the time that it comes to the aid of our lives; now is the time that we established a sousveillance state.

When you balance the power in surveillance and open-source it, not only will the people be able to protect themselves from the power of the state, they'll also be able to protect themselves from the mob of which the state has emboldened and empowered.