Counting death

The development of statistical methods of inventory and control was furthered by use within military settings.

The Other Magpie, a Native American Indian, denoted her achievement of killing an enemy by taking his scalp and adding a feather to her coup stick.

The Nazis compiled detailed records of people, especially those sent to concentration and extermination camps. In fact, IBM was accused of being built on the success of tracking systems developed for the Nazis.

In 2001, Edwin Black stated that IBM played an integral administrative part in the systematic genocide of the European Jewish community from 1939 to 1944, by helping the Nazis organize and coordinate their efforts toward gathering and organizing all available information about their victims. Specifically, IBM leased their unit record (punched card) equipment and support services to the Third Reich, providing a significant help in dealing with the massive administrative task that was the 'Final Solution'.

This kind of extensive record-keeping, central database could provide an approximation of Foucault's panoptic metaphor.