Surfveillance: SurfCams, Social Issues and Regulatory Intervention

Abstract

We make a unique contribution to the field of sport and social issues with a place-based case study of one SurfCam fixed to a private residence overlooking the world famous and iconic Bells Beach Surfing Recreation Reserve on the Surf Coast of Victoria, Australia. This case study offers a paradigm example of corporate extractivism that occurs through the surveillance of public space by a private company, which contributes to a range of social and environmental issues and has impacts on the culture of surfing. We argue that SurfCams reconfigure our understanding of surveillance and the governance of open spaces where recreational or competitive nature sports take place. We consider impacts of SurfCams for individual rights, as well as the environment, and surfing culture. We examine deficiencies in existing regulatory governance and highlight tensions between local community interests, corporate extractivism, and the neoliberalization of contemporary sport facilitated by surveillance technology. Our analysis shows these developments occur in a context where several intersecting governance modes are, at present, incapable of regulating the SurfCam.