Beyond Security: The Consequences of Continuous Surveillance in Smart Homes

Smart home technologies continuously collect data with algorithms and actuators that respond to the data. A common concern in smart home discourse is that the introduction of further sensors in people’s intimate spaces might compromise security. While security is a valid concern, I believe there is a need to consider how these technologies shape our relation to the home. In my research I make a Foucauldian reading of smart homes as disciplinary technologies that suggests that with the introduction of smart technologies, the home is no longer bound by the physical space, but that as technologies reach beyond the physical space, through cameras that observe our neighbors, checking on our pets during the day, or activating the robot vacuum remotely the boundaries of the home become more porous. Smart technologies reshape the boundaries of the home as algorithms respond to our mere presence or approach to the home without any direct access. Future discourse on smart homes needs to go beyond security concerns and discuss how continuous surveillance reshapes the boundaries and relations to our lived spaces.