Surveillance is recognized as a social phenomenon that is commonplace, employed by governments, companies and communities for a wide variety of reasons. Surveillance is fundamental in cybersecurity as it provides tools for prevention and detection; it is also a source of controversies related to privacy and freedom. Building on general studies of surveillance, we identify and analyse certain concepts that are central to surveillance. To do this we employ formal methods based on elementary algebra. First, we show that disparate forms of surveillance have a common structure and can be unified by abstract mathematical concepts. The model shows that (i) finding identities and (ii) sorting identities into categories are fundamental in conceptualizing surveillance. Secondly, we develop a formal model that theorizes identity as abstract data that we call identifiers. The model views identity through the computational lens of the theory of abstract data types. We examine the ways identifiers depend upon each other; and show that the provenance of identifiers depends upon translations between systems of identifiers.

中文翻译：

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监视和身份：概念框架和正式模型

监视被认为是一种普遍存在的社会现象，由于各种原因而被政府，公司和社区所采用。监视是网络安全的基础，因为它提供了预防和检测的工具；它也是与隐私和自由有关的争议的源头。在监视的一般研究的基础上，我们确定和分析某些对于监视至关重要的概念。为此，我们采用基于基本代数的形式方法。首先，我们证明了不同形式的监视具有共同的结构，并且可以通过抽象的数学概念来统一。该模型表明，（i）查找身份和（ii）将身份分类为类别对于概念化监视至关重要。其次，我们开发了一个正式的模型，该模型将身份理论化为我们称为标识符的抽象数据。该模型通过抽象数据类型理论的计算视角来查看身份。我们研究标识符相互依赖的方式。并且表明标识符的来源取决于标识符系统之间的转换。