this concept of a "panopticon" permeates many of our institutions and systems.
let's think a little bit.
"The Panopticon thus allows seeing without being seen. 'Such asymmetry of seeing-without-being-seen is, in fact, the very essence of power for Foucault because ultimately, the power to dominate rests on the differential posession of knowledge'"("Subject" 223)."
http://users.rcn.com/mackey/thesis/panopticon.html