SSC Seminar Series: Sami Coll

Sami Coll
Visiting Research Fellow
Surveillance Studies Centre
Queen’s University

“Consumers Under Surveillance: The Case of Loyalty Cards”

Wednesday, April 20th
12:30pm to 1:30pm
Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411 D405

This presentation will share some of the results of Coll's research on loyalty cards made in Switzerland. Firstly, it will show how much companies are taking advantage of this wealth of data. By challenging the notion of privacy, a new avenue of research to understand privacy as a tool of power rather than a protection tool will be suggested. Secondly, it will suggest using the concept of “biopower” to understand how loyalty cards are not only a surveillance device but a part of new forms of governance, trying to go this way beyond the traditional surveillance-privacy antagonism.

Everyone welcome!