The field of surveillance studies has gained momentum and with that broadened its empirical gaze to include an increasing number of practices. Yet, the theoretical understanding of surveillance has not developed at the same pace.In this article two dominating metaphors, Big Brother and the panopticon, are critically discussed, and it is argued that fresh theoretical and methodological resources are needed. Using the work of Haraway and Latour the article develops an understanding of surveillance as a situated activity. This is done through an ethnographic study of the Danish Fisheries Inspection. “Situated surveillance” contains the important insight that it is inexpedient to define surveillance in general term and “in advance”. What surveillance is must be studied empirically. When interpreted as “situated” surveillance is never total, as anticipated in Big Brother and the panopticon, but limited and partial. Furthermore, surveillance is a result of work involving exertion, friction and resistance. Finally, the distinction between the observer and the observed is blurred, and surveillance becomes not only a matter of control but also of e.g. care.