sousveillance

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/suːˈveɪləns/

noun

The recording of an activity from the perspective of participant in the activity.

OriginFrench sous →
Scrabble 18
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Meanings

nounsousveillance (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe recording of an activity from the perspective of participant in the activity.
    1 more example

    No, you’re not always “the product” on social media; sometimes you’re the raw material. Or the employee. Welcome to “sousveillance capitalism.” […] But you see the flow of capital here: viral sousveillance proliferating in an attention economy that benefits large tech firms, further exploited by traditional advertisers as “relatable” content.

    2022 March 27, Katherine Alejandra Cross, “Why Is the Internet So Exhausting? Blame Your Crowdsourced Bosses”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2022
  2. uncountableCountersurveillance, inverse surveillance.

    This paper describes using wearable computing devices to perform "sousveillance" (inverse surveillance) as a counter to organizational surveillance.

    2002 September 28, Steve Mann, Jason Nolan, Barry Wellman, “Sousveillance: Inventing and Using Wearable Computing Devices for Data Collection in Surveillance Environments.”, in Surveillance & Society, volume 1, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN, Anstract, pages 331–355
    2 more examples

    This study uses a critical thematic analysis to explore the comments left by those who viewed these acts of ‘inverse surveillance’, or sousveillance. Results indicate that YouTube provided a space in which alternative views on the Stokes Croft riot were seen and heard but the views of many commentators still appeared to be influenced by the news media.

    2015 May 28, Paul Reilly, “Every little helps? YouTube, sousveillance and the ‘anti-Tesco’ riot in Stokes Croft”, in New Media & Society, volume 17, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 755–771

    Article XIV. Sousveillance laws should be enacted to ensure that all members of peaceful communities feel safe, to achieve governmental transparency, and to provide counter-balances to any surveillance state.

    2018 August 21, Bruce Sterling, quoting Zoltan Istvan, “The Transhumanist Bill of Rights version 2.0”, in WIRED, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019
  3. uncountableVeillance by the masses, of the dominant entities.

Origin

  1. Frenchsous“under”
  2. Englishsousveillance

Coined by Canadian wearable computing researcher and professor Steve Mann, from surveillance and French sous (“under”) (as opposed to sur (“over”) as in surveillance).

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish kansalaisvalvonta
  • kansalaisvalvontarecording
French sousveillance
  • sousveillancerecording
Italian subveglianza
  • subveglianzarecording
Cite this entry
APA

sousveillance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sousveillance

MLA

“sousveillance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sousveillance. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sousveillance,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sousveillance.

Source: sousveillance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.