surveillance

plural surveillances

1. countableuncountableClose observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.

   The surveillance program includes at least 480 LPRs that scan and record about 16.2 million vehicles per week and stores that data for two years, he wrote in the court filing.

   2023 July 24, Chris Eberhart, “NY police used AI to track drivers on highways as attorney questions legality”, in Fox News, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2023

2. countableuncountableContinuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example.

   1 more example

   Lady Anne appeared in a week or two to have greatly recovered her appetite, and she talked much of the benefit derived from her native air, in order to gain which, she constantly drove out in Lord Rotheles's carriages, and appeared to derive comfort from her admiration of his beautiful bays; beyond this Helen could not perceive that her airings were useful, as her cough increased exceedingly, and all the visitants at the castle expressed surprise "that she did not place herself under the surveillance of one or other of the great physicians of the metropolis."

   1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 66–67

3. countableuncountableespionageSystematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.

   Cook was making an impassioned plea to end the technology industry’s collection and sale of user data. “This is surveillance,” he continued.

   2019 January 31, Ian Bogost, quoting Tim Cook, “Apple’s Empty Grandstanding About Privacy”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2019

   2 more examples

   The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.

   2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2025, page 23

   And that sight will become more common in the coming years, as the city’s police pursue an ambitious campaign to install thousands of cameras to elevate their surveillance capabilities.

   2024 October 5, Jessie Yeung, “Hong Kong plans to install thousands of surveillance cameras. Critics say it’s more proof the city is moving closer to China”, in CNN, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2025

4. countableuncountablelawIn criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.