Abstract
The paper aims to explain, based on the empirical case of policing protests in Porto Alegre during the 2014 World Cup, how the incorporation of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) composes and/or transforms police surveillance tacTIC against collective action. Methodologically, interviews with police agents and a database of the news coverage of the protests are used as sources. The results indicate that the use of ICTs involves the Integrated Command and Control Center, aerial imagery, street monitoring and social media monitoring, tending to produce anticipatory policing and selective expansion of visibility over protesters. The combination of surveillance tacTIC with spatial control configures a model of strategic incapacitation of the protest, although institutional limitations are identified in the operationalization of ICTs.
Keywords:
Protests; Policing; Surveillance; New Information and Communication Technologies; Megaevents