The increasing power of total information systems and the wide spread use of surveillance cameras and RFID chips in modern society, changed the Tabula's goal of social control. Rather than trying to establish a government where a police officer could be standing on every corner, the spread of the Vast Machine meant that the entire population could easily be tracked and monitored by computers. Jeremy Bentham's prison design, the Panopticon, provided a new model for the Tabula in the post-war era. The idea of a controlled society finally seemed like an achievable goal.

The Tabula believe that there are three crucial aspects of the Panopticon that needed to be established within contemporary society.

While surveillance cameras can be visibly placed on street corners, the specific act of observation has to be invisible so that citizens are never quite sure when they're being watched.

Because citizens can't tell if they’re being watched, they must assume  that the Vast Machine is omniscient – capable of observing every aspect of their lives.       

Gradually, this assumption becomes part of human consciousness. Bentham's watchman could take a weekend off, but the prisoners wouldn't know it. In the Tabula's perfect society, the CCTV cameras can break down, but it's not important. The citizens have become model prisoners – self-censoring and controlling their own activities.