Panopticon
About Panopticon
Peter Vlemmix's documentary looks at privacy in the Netherlands as records go digital. He lines up face recognition on Rotterdam trams, license-plate storage along highways, psychiatric files held by insurers and the state, and deep packet inspection. The film sets Dutch habits against a visit to Germany, where he finds people more wary, and he ties that wariness to memory of the Nazi years. Among the people he interviews are Alexander Klöpping, Brenno de Winter, and Inez Weski.
Cast & crew
More about Panopticon
Vlemmix, also billed as Pieter Vlemmix, directed and produced it independently. The premiere was 25 October 2012. Dutch Wikipedia gives the length as 60 minutes and the languages as Dutch and English. The title is the Greek word for all-seeing. BNN showed it on Nederland 3 on 9 January 2014 under the title Panopticon: illusie van privacy.
Themes
Making
Vlemmix shot interviews and street examples himself and released the film outside a broadcast commission. The television date came more than a year later.
Notes
- Kijkwijzer carried an age marking for the Dutch release.
- The Commons upload of the film runs 57 minutes 15 seconds.
- Weski is a criminal lawyer. De Winter is a journalist. Klöpping is a technology writer.
Scenes
- Vlemmix lists plate-reading cameras on Dutch highways.
- He compares the Dutch interviews with what he is told in Germany.