News Archive: 2008

Call for PhD Applications at U of T

PhD stipends are available in the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, to work on projects under the supervision of Prof.

Post Doctoral Fellowship in Surveillance Studies

Post Doctoral Fellowship in Surveillance Studies at The University of Toronto, Faculty of Information

The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting research project seeks to fill one post-doctoral fellow position (two years in residence), starting Summer 2009 based in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto . The fellow will be expected to perform research in collaboration with the New Transparency's Integrated Research Sub-Project on Digitally Mediated Surveillance (IRSP 2) , lead by Prof. Andrew Clement (University of Toronto) and Prof. Colin Bennett (University of Victoria). In particular, this will involve embarking on a program of productive research on some aspect of digitally mediated surveillance, taking a lead role in organizing an international research workshop on digitally mediated surveillance planned for May 2011, grant application writing and contributing to the New Transparency and related projects more generally.

Arthur Cockfield's research featured in alumni magazine

Arthur Cockfield's work with the Surveillance Project is featured within the Queen's Law alumni magazine, see pages 7-9, 28 and 35.

Congratulations to David Murakami Wood and William Webster

David Murakami Wood and William Webster have just received news that their bid for a new pan-European network, 'Living in Surveillance Societies' (LiSS) has been successful.

Funded by the European Science Foundation, the network will run for 5 years, supporting meetings, conferences and some research visits across the whole of Europe (not just the EU), particularly focusing on developing...

Dennis Edney to speak at Queen's Law

The Law Students' Society, the Faculty of Law, and the Human Rights Law Association have invited Dennis Edney to speak at Queen's Law on November 28th from 1:00pm to 2:30pm (room TBA).

Best known for representing Omar Khadr -- the Canadian citizen held at Guantanamo Bay -- Mr. Edney has a reputation for taking on challenging cases, especially where...

Research Fellowship Opportunity at NYU

Areas of focus: Multidisciplinary study of privacy, security, social dimensions of digital networks, values in computing and information system design.

New Privacy Advocates Website Launched

When surveillance practices emerge, who mobilizes against them, how, and with what effect?

The new Privacy Advocates website has been introduced to facilitate communication between individuals and groups that have emerged from civil society, as well as researchers and other people in the wider community.

The idea for this website originated from Professor Colin Bennett's...

The New Transparency Website

The New Transparency website is fully functional beginning Sept 1!

Enhanced driver's licence passed in Ontario

McGuinty should change provincial licence plate logo to "Ontario: You'll Be Discovered," say civil liberties and social justice groups.

New Book on Urban Resiliance

Congratulations to David Murakami Wood, Jon Coaffee and Peter Rogers on their new book The Everyday Resilience of the City: How Cities Respond to Terrorism and Disaster now available from Palgrave Macmillan.

This book examines the practice of urban resilience, drawing on global historical sources and case-studies of contemporary Britain. This book argues that resilience is neither new nor...

IPSI Lecture Series - Colin Bennett

This presentation presents the major findings of a recent book by the same name (eds. Colin J. Bennett and David Lyon, Routledge 2008) and applies these lessons to the contemporary debates in Canada about identity cards and the enhanced drivers licence (EDL).

IPSI is once again pleased to present its Public Lecture Series, where notable speakers from the identity, privacy and security fields present their work and discuss contemporary issues.

Colin Bennett, November 17 at the Faculty of Information, 140 St. George Street, Bissell Building, Room 728, University of Toronto, Noon to 1 pm.

November 17: Colin Bennett, Professor, University of Victoria

Playing the Identity Card: Surveillance, Security and Identification in Global Perspective

Post-Doc Fellowship at Open University

The Open University Business School seeks a post doctoral researcher on a three year research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, beginning January 09.

The project is called ‘Taking Liberties: New uses of consumer data in the UK’, and aims to explore whether consumer data traditionally collected in marketing contexts is now being applied in security contexts. The project...

Congratulations to Elia Zureik

Congratulations to Elia for his selection for one of two Queen's University 2008 Prizes for Excellence in Research. This is a strong testament to Elia's distinguished career in research as well as his current commitment to an extremely active and highly productive research program.

Each year the Queen's University Advisory Research Committee considers candidates for the Prize for Excellence...

Congratulations to Kevin Haggerty

2008 Martha Cook Piper Research Prize Winner

New Transparency co-investigator Kevin Haggerty has won the University of Alberta's prestigious Martha Cook Piper Research Prize for 2008 in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts, Law and Education category. This prize recognizes faculty members at an early stage in their career who have developed a strong reputation for original research and...

Lyon named Fellow of Royal Society of Canada

Congratulations to Professor David Lyon, who has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, one of 72 new Fellows and two Specially Elected Fellows.

Technocrime book now available

Congratulations to Stéphan Leman-Langlois, whose new edited collection Technocrime is now available from Willan Publishing.

New book on National Identity Cards

Congratulations to Colin Bennett, David Lyon and all the contributors on their new book Playing the Identity Card: Surveillance, Security and Identification in Global Perspective , now available from Routledge. The book is an edited collection of papers from an international research workshop on national ID card systems organized by The Globalization of Personal Data Project (GPD) in association with the Surveillance Project at Queen's University, Canada on June 7-8 2007.

"National identity cards are in the news. While paper ID documents have been used in some countries for a long time, today's rapid growth features high-tech IDs with built-in biometrics and RFID chips. Both long-term trends towards e-Government and the more recent responses to 9/11 have prompted the quest for more stable identity systems. Commercial pressures mix with security rationales to catalyze ID development, aimed at accuracy, efficiency and speed. New ID systems also depend on computerized national registries. Many questions are raised about new IDs but they are often limited by focusing on the cards themselves or on 'privacy.'

Public Forum July 16

Public Information Forum on Ontario’s proposed Enhanced Driver’s Licence

SP awarded OPC funds

The Surveillance Project has been awarded research funding of $50,000 from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (Ottawa) under its Contributions Program for a project entitled "Camera Surveillance

Have you been targeted?

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group wants to hear from anyone who has been targeted by the U.S.

NewT Team Meeting

Information on The New Transparency Inaugural Team Meeting at Queen's University 8 - 10 May may be found here.

The New Transparency Inaugural Team Meeting 8 - 10 May 2008 David's Introduction to the New Transparency Project

IRSP 1 presentation: The role of technology companies in promoting surveillance internationally

IRSP 2 presentation: Digital media surveillance:...
  • 2008.03.24

The Union Gallery presents

The Union Gallery presents Monitor, three off-site art projects that engage with the topic of surveillance, March 26th through April 18, 2008.

SP Seminar Series

Mark B. Salter, University of Ottawa, "The Sociology of Securitization", Thursday, March 20th, 12:30 pm, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411.

Mark B. Salter Associate Professor School of Political Studies University of Ottawa

The Sociology of Securitization

Thursday, March 20th Location: Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411 Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Within the contemporary politics of terror, we see "security"...

Call for Papers:

States of Exception, Surveillance and Population Management: The Case of Israel/Palestine; due 1 April 2008.

PDF version available here.

SP receives $2.5 million from SSHRC

Queen's-led Surveillance Project awarded $2+ million Major Collaborative Research Initiative grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Tuesday February 26, 2008

Determining how and why everyday people are being watched by public and private organizations - and the social consequences of this expanding surveillance - will be the focus of a new $2.5-million collaborative research project based at Queen's. Called The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting , the project was announced today as a Major Collaborative Research Initiative supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) . The Queen's initiative will be led by Sociology professor David Lyon , director of the university's internationally renowned, multidisciplinary research group, the Surveillance Project.

  • 2008.02.08

SP Seminar Series

Valerie Steeves, Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa; Why Data Protection Doesn't Work: Rethinking Westin's Theory of Privacy from a Social Perspective; Thursday, February 14th, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411 12:30pm to 1:30pm.

Valerie Steeves Assistant Professor Department of Criminology University of Ottawa

Why Data Protection Doesn't Work: Rethinking Westin's Theory of Privacy from a Social Perspective

Thursday, February 14th Location: Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411 Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Over the past 30 years, legislators have used Westin's definition of privacy as informational control in order to provide citizens with protection from privacy-invasive practices on the part of governments and institutions. However, these laws have done little to constrain the growth of a surveillance state. This paper returns to Westin's original articulation of privacy theory, and seeks to explain why laws based on the notion of privacy as informational control are unable to adequately protect privacy as a social and a democratic value.

SP Seminar Series

Stéphane Leman-Langlois, School of Criminology, Université de Montréal, "The Local Impact of CCTV on the Social Construction of Security", January 17th, 12:30pm.

Stéphane Leman-Langlois Assistant Professor School of Criminology Université de Montréal

The Local Impact of CCTV on the Social Construction of Security

Thursday, January 17th Location: Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411 Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm

The use of closed circuit television in public spaces has given rise to a sizable amount of literature, which generally falls into four broad categories. First, many authors have probed the effects of increased surveillance on various aspects of civil society. The second category, under the "crime science" program, presents numerous efforts at measuring the impact of CCTV surveillance on local and aggregated crime rates. The third category of CCTV literature is modest by comparison and includes studies of the uses made of CCTV by operators and the social organization of surveillance work.