Car Rides

So I'm home for the first weekend since going to college! It's awesome. My dad picked me up Thursday night because I have no classes on Fridays. During our ride back to Connecticut, he was telling me about his new Blackberry he was given through work. It was funny because I had just explained to him what I had been learning in my classes, including panopticons in English. He had never heard of panopticism before and he was intrigued. He went on to explain that a co worker of his turned the GPS off of his phone because their bosses could track wherever they were at any point in time. My dad asked him to do the same for his phone because he definitely didn't want people tracking him. I then explained to him that this was a perfect example of the panopticons I was previously informing him of. He agreed when I said that panopticons would make me paranoid. He also drives a company car and informed me that his company is going to start putting tracking devices in the company cars once their leases are up. This way they can verify where the workers are at all times. I personally find this very disturbing. They shouldn't have to monitor their workers' every move. I understand the convenience it may provide but a company should trust the people they hire as employees. I went on to wonder if they have to let the leasers know that there has been a tracking device installed on the car. It may be in fine print in a contract they sign and the driver may have no idea. I'm just glad my dad has knowledge of this change! It's amazing how many panopticons are in the world that I never realized before reading Foucault's Panopticism.