The panoptic vision embodies a comprehensive system of control based on surveillance, massive information gathering, auditing, and aggressive enforcement of a wide array of criminal and administrative sanctions.

Our use of the term panoptic is taken from Jeremy Bentham, who envisioned a "panopticon" prison whose ingenious architecture featured a control tower at the center of a circular cell house. From this tower, the cells, inmates, and staff would be completely visible to the watchers.

By vision, we mean a paradigm or weltanschauung (worldview) that includes assumptions about human behavior and social control by government institutions. By contrast, the panoptic vision is not concerned with efficient government, but with control alone.