“From under the hatches”

Reflections on dark sousveillance and resisting carceral-care surveillance

Bibliographic Data

ID24140232
AuthorsVictoria Copeland (0000-0002-2444-5413, Department of Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Year2026
Volume13
Issue3
Publication date2026-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBig Data & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2053-9517 • E-ISSN: 2053-9517
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/20539517261481730
LanguageEN
References cited15

As automated decision-making tools and surveillance become increasingly embedded within systems of care, there is an urgent need for analytical frameworks and resistance practices created and informed by those most impacted. Inspired by Dark Sousveillance , this commentary draws on a collaborative community research project with two grassroots organizations in Los Angeles to demonstrate how oppositional knowledge can be used to analyze and resist algorithmic harm and the surveillance of Black communities. The commentary introduces an analytical framework grounded in knowledge produced “from under the hatches” to examine how predictive risk assessment tools, data-sharing practices, and systems of carceral-care surveillance operate across interlocking domains of power. Rather than centering technical solutions to algorithmic harm, the framework highlights how communal study and lived experience are essential for analyzing and resisting the continued expansion of racializing carceral-care surveillance.