Cambridge Analytica shows the perils of ‘voter analytics’ industry

By Colin Bennett, Opinion, iPolitics , March 21, 2018

Recent revelations about the practices of the British company, Cambridge Analytica (CA), raise a larger set of questions about democracy: Should “Big Data” be playing a role in our elections? Should the “micro-targeting” of precise...

Facebook’s data scandal highlights risks of Canada’s weak internet sovereignty

By Andrew Clement, Contributed to The Globe and Mail , March 25, 2018

Canadians are rightfully troubled by recent news of Cambridge Analytica's abuse of Facebook data for psychographic profiling and political manipulation. The threats to personal privacy and democratic governance exposed in this case are not an isolated...

Sidewalk Labs’ Toronto waterfront tech hub must respect privacy, democracy

By Andrew Clement, Opinion, The Toronto Star , January 12, 2018

Sidewalk Toronto can potentially set an exemplary standard for digital governance with its experimental Quayside neighbourhood. But the project should proceed no further than its planning period if it cannot achieve basic principles of organizational responsiveness, transparency and accountability. Read More...

SSC Seminar Series: Jens Hälterlein (Post-doctoral Researcher, Centre for Security and Society, Freiburg University, Germany)

Social physics, risk spaces and big data: epistemologies of predictive policing

March 28th

12:30 to 2:00 pm

Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411

Abstract:

The lecture addresses three different approaches to predictive policing in order to discuss their epistemologies and their performativity as a means of knowledge production, labelling of criminal subjects and intelligence-led policing. The first approach is based on criminological routine activity theory. By analysing...

SSC Seminar Series: Anna Feigenbaum (Bournemouth University)

From Sousveillance to Civic Forensics: The Evolution of Cop-Watching in Protests

Wednesday 21 March 2018, 12:30 to 2:00 pm

Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411

Recording and monitoring police violence is a central aspect of protesters' experiences. In this presentation we turn from traditional conceptualizations of sousveillance, to the idea of ‘civic forensics’ in efforts to examine how sousveillance strategies can be collectivized through civic-led...

SSC Seminar Series: Solon Barocas (Cornell University)

Refractive Surveillance: Monitoring Customers to Manage Workers

Wednesday, April 4 2018, 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Mackintosh Corry Hall D411 

Abstract:

Collecting information about one group can facilitate control over an entirely different group—a phenomenon we term refractive surveillance. We explore this dynamic in the context of retail stores by investigating how retailers’ collection of data about customers facilitates new forms of managerial control...

Student Internship at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia

*Note: This opportunity is restricted to graduate students involved in the Big Data Surveillance Partnership Grant at Queen's University, University of Ottawa, University of Victoria, Laval University, and University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

1) CONTACT INFORMATION: Applications to be addressed to: Bradley Weldon, Acting Deputy Commissioner Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC Address: 4th...

SSC Seminar Series: Veronica Moretti (University of Bologna)

Risk perception and digital surveillance among American college students

Wednesday, February 7 2018, 12:30 to 2:00 pm

MacCorry Hall, Room D411 (Sociology Lounge)

Within each American university campus, a Department of Public Safety (DPS) is designated to send students emails whenever a crime is committed on campus or in the surrounding area.

Moretti's study investigates the extent to which information sharing about criminal events...

SSC Seminar Series: Ciara Bracken-Roche (University of Ottawa)

Ciara Bracken-Roche, Post-doctoral fellow, University of Ottawa

Navigating Canadian Drone Space: A Sociological Analysis of the Stakeholders, Narratives, and Policy Shaping Canadian Unmanned Systems

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

12:30 – 2 pm

Mackintosh Corry Hall D411

Drawing from documents collected through Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests and interview data with Canadian drone stakeholders, this presentation argues that the Canadian drone space is driven by the surveillance-industrial...

Welcome sava saheli singh

SSC and BDS extend a warm welcome to new Postdoctoral Fellow sava saheli singh . sava begins her postdoc at Queen's in January 2018. She will be developing innovative multi-media teaching and learning materials related to Big Data Surveillance, led by David Lyon and David Murakami Wood.

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