In a sense, if society had a panopticon, the world would be much more productive at the hands of power and discipline. The panopticon is power by geometry, and Foucault goes into great detail about how the panopticon represents discipline and power in society as a whole.
The high profile terrorist activities of recent times have captured global attention upon their occurrence due to their high impact. These terrible acts have doubled as a curse that has rapidly escalated security measures, providing governments with all the reason they need to implement procedures as listening to phone calls. "Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, of separating out their dangerous mixtures" (Foucault) Introducing such procedures allows governments to analyse each and every body, with a possibility to build a profile detailing a great amount of personal information. What information is or isn't collected is not known. We are not supposed to know. But we are told for our own safety that this is the way things have to be done. "He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication" (Foucault). Increased security and hi-tech surveillance are sold to us as appropriate steps to take in order to navigate any future threat to our society. Many of these security measures are now becoming so ingrained in everyday life that we are oblivious to them and we do not question their existence. In fact it is probably quite the opposite, particularly at airports where the security is much more visible and noticeable. We tend to be very aware of our surroundings. "This surveillance is based upon a system of permanent registration" (Foucault) Through a variety of measures such as closed circuit television, body scanners and numerous methods of identification we could be easily located and detected if there was a need.
