"Although it is physically impossible for the single guard to observe all the inmates' cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that they are motivated to act as though they are being watched at all times."
First read about the Panopticon in Foucault's "Discipline and Punish". It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, the mind behind utilitarianism - in fact, I believe it was only put into practice in one prison, which Fidel Castro and Raul Castro were imprisoned in before the Cuban revolution. All this is somewhat tangential to the discussion at hand, but still quite interesting.
The parallels between the Internet/modern security state and the Panopticon design are obvious.
