Bijsterveld, Karin (Author)
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Volume: 112
Issue: 2
Pages: 215-241
It is well known that the Ministry of State Security in the former German Democratic Republic was deeply involved in wiretapping and eavesdropping on both foreigners and its citizens. It is less widely known that, against this background, the Stasi developed a keen interest in technologies and techniques of speaker identification, such as the visualization of recorded sound and aural analysis. How exactly did Stasi employees analyze the sound of voices? How did listening become a legitimate way of knowing in this context? And why did speaker identification not become as powerful as the Stasi had hoped? Empirically, this essay draws on documents from the Stasi’s former archives. Theoretically, it builds on “sonic skills” in the sciences to clarify the identification practices and distinguishes between the “logic of forensics” and the “logic of surveillance” to understand why the Stasi ran ashore in its sound analysis endeavor. Finally, it aims to contribute to understanding the information paradox in the Stasi historiography and its implications for the history of science.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Brian Hochman;
(2022)
The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States
(/isis/citation/CBB775086796/)
Article
Patrick Petit;
(2020)
‘Everywhere Surveillance’: Global Surveillance Regimes as Techno-Securitization
(/isis/citation/CBB181724884/)
Article
Darren Ellis;
(2020)
Techno-Securitisation of Everyday Life and Cultures of Surveillance-Apatheia
(/isis/citation/CBB734944273/)
Article
Evan Selinger;
Darrin Durant;
(2022)
Amazon’s Ring: Surveillance as a Slippery Slope Service
(/isis/citation/CBB181826170/)
Thesis
Kim, Richard S.Y.;
(2010)
Cyber-Surveillance: A Case Study in Policy and Development
(/isis/citation/CBB001567169/)
Article
Alexander Trauth-Goik;
(December 2019)
"Constructing a Culture of Honesty and Integrity": The Evolution of China's Han-centric Surveillance System
(/isis/citation/CBB323886145/)
Article
Weiner, Amir;
Rahi-Tamm, Aigi;
(2013)
Getting to Know You: The Soviet Surveillance System, 1939--57
(/isis/citation/CBB001200564/)
Book
Ashley Sweetman;
(2022)
Cyber and the City: Securing London’s Banks in the Computer Age
(/isis/citation/CBB340774234/)
Book
Andrew J. Stewart;
(2021)
A Vulnerable System: The History of Information Security in the Computer Age
(/isis/citation/CBB758382142/)
Book
Colin Koopman;
(2019)
How We Became Our Data: A Genealogy of the Informational Person
(/isis/citation/CBB981384434/)
Book
Gilliom, John;
Monahan, Torin;
(2013)
SuperVision: An Introduction to the Surveillance Society
(/isis/citation/CBB001421286/)
Thesis
Magnet, Shoshana Amielle;
(2008)
Encoding the Body: Critically Assessing the Collection and Uses of Biometric Information
(/isis/citation/CBB001561133/)
Article
Silvan Pollozek;
Jan-Hendrik Passoth;
(2023)
Provisional by design: Frontex data infrastructures and the Europeanization of migration and border control
(/isis/citation/CBB906319443/)
Book
Duane C. Wilson;
(2021)
Cybersecurity
(/isis/citation/CBB201310866/)
Article
Rebecca J. Hester;
(2020)
Bioveillance: A Techno-security Infrastructure to Preempt the Dangers of Informationalised Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB548068287/)
Article
Bruno Oliveira Martins;
(2023)
Security knowledges: Circulation, control, and responsible research and innovation in EU border management
(/isis/citation/CBB687707247/)
Article
Katrin M. Kämpf;
(2020)
Pedophilia Screening in Technosecurity Culture The Construction of Dangerous Sub-populations in the Name of Security
(/isis/citation/CBB009060974/)
Book
Kevin Macnish;
(2017)
The Ethics of Surveillance: An Introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB701547234/)
Article
Ben Falchuk;
Shoshana Loeb;
Ralph Neff;
(June 2018)
The Social Metaverse: Battle for Privacy
(/isis/citation/CBB447859564/)
Book
Josh Lauer;
Kenneth Lipartito;
(2021)
Surveillance Capitalism in America
(/isis/citation/CBB401959068/)
Be the first to comment!