News Archive: 2010

Season's Greetings from the SSC

The solstice is past and in the northern hemisphere things are brightening from today. It may be chilly in most parts of Canada, which is all the more reason for sending warmest wishes to all involved in the Surveillance Studies Centre. Several publications have appeared this year including the long-awaited edited collection from the GPD project: ...

New Book - Surveillance and Control in Israel/Palestine

Congratulations to Elia Zureik, David Lyon, Yasmeen Abu-Laban and all the contributors on their new book Surveillance and Control in Israel/Palestine , now available from Routledge .

Applications now accepted for 2011 SSSS

The Surveillance Studies Summer Seminar takes place 16 - 21 May 2011 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The application deadline is 11 February 2011.

APPLY NOW

The Surveillance Studies Summer Seminar provides an intensive, multi-disciplinary learning experience that addresses key issues of surveillance studies in ways that enhance the participants' own research...

Malcolm Thorburn awarded Canada Research Chair

Congratulations to Malcolm Thorburn who has been awarded a Canada Research Chair in Constitution, Crime and Security.

Malcolm Thorburn is based in the Faculty of Law at Queen's. His work sets out to build a new foundation for debates about the legitimacy of security operations. Debates on a variety of issues – from the privatization of policing to...

UK Information Commissioner Reports on the state of Surveillance

UK Information Commissioner reports to Parliament on the state of surveillance, based on an update report on developments since 2006 authored by SSN members.

On Thursday 11th November, Christopher Graham, the UK Information Commissioner, sent his report on the state of surveillance and recommendations for action to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. His report includes the SSN-authored ‘An...

PhD Student Position in Critical Media/Communication Studies at Uppsala University

Uppsala University invites applications for a PhD position in Media and Communication Studies , available as of January 1st, 2011.

This position is for 5 years and will be based in the Department of Informatics and Media.

The candidate will participate in the department’s ongoing research in the field of web 2.0/social media/social networking sites & economic...

Call for PhD Applications at the University of Victoria

Two PhD stipends, funded through grants received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and beginning in September 2011, are available in the Department of Political Science, University of Victoria to work on two projects under the supervision of Dr. Colin Bennett.

Students will be responsible for conducting research on the surveillance and privacy implications...

OPC 2010 Draft Consultations Report - Call for Comments

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner invites comments on a draft report of their Consumer Privacy Consultations held earlier this year.

Post-doc position at Vrije Universiteit Brussel

The centre for Law Science Technology and Society Studies (LSTS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has a vacancy for a 0.4 postdoctoral researcher for the EU-funded research project, Security Impact Assessment Measure (SIAM).

LSTS is a partner in SIAM, which aims to develop a toolkit for decision-makers in the field of security, integrating STS research methodologies...

Surveillance Studies Network Book Prize

The Surveillance Studies Network is pleased to announce its first scholarly book prize, recognizing the world’s best English language book published on the topic of surveillance in the past year.

Nominated books must be an original (or newly translated) monograph (not an edited collection), and published in English with a 2010 publication date. Nominations are accepted from...

Brockington Visitor: N. Katherine Hayles

The Surveillance Studies Centre is pleased to welcome N. Katherine Hayles to Queen's University as the 2010-11 Brockington Visitor.

N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of Literature at Duke University, teaches and writes on the relations of science, technology and literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. Her book How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics ...

SSC and NewT welcome new Research Associate

Sarah Cheung has taken over the role of Research Associate from Emily Smith, who has begun a year-long maternity leave.

Sarah's professional experience includes editorial roles at The Economic Journal and Nature Publishing Group, as well as positions in media and marketing. She has an MSc from the London School of Economics.

As Research Associate, Sarah supports...

Congrats on OPC funding

Congratulations to team members on their successful applications to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's 2010-11 Contributions Program.

A Privacy Protective "Proportionate ID Digital Wallet" for Canadians: Open Prototyping and Public Policy Alternatives

Co-applicants: Professor Andrew Clement, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Professor Matt Ratto, Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI), Faculty of Information, Dr. Joseph...

SSC awarded OPC funds

The Surveillance Studies Centre is a recipient of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's 2010- 11 Contributions Program, which funds privacy research and public education initiatives. The SSC project is entitled The Private Sector, National Security and Personal Data and will examine the role of the private sector in Canadian national security programs at the border and in airports....

Research Associate position

The Surveillance Studies Centre is seeking a Research Associate (12 month contract).

The closing date for the competition is 11 June 2010. You may find the details of the position here .

Book on GPD International Survey Results Published!

Surveillance, Privacy, and the Globalization of Personal Information: International Comparisons now available from McGill-Queen’s University Press.

The world has become familiar with the unprecedented growth of surveillance after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but a com­prehensive analysis of the public’s opinion of how their privacy is being protected or invaded has been unavailable – until now. Surveillance, Privacy,...

Cities Under Seige

Congratulations to Stephen Graham on his new publication Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism , Verso, May 2010.

Cities have become the new battleground of our increasingly urban world. From the slums of the global South to the wealthy financial centres of the West, Cities Under Siege traces the spread of political violence through the sites, spaces, infrastructure...

Welcome NewT Posdoc

Welcome to Kate Milberry, who joined the New Transparency as a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto.

Kate Milberry joined the New Transparency as a postdoctoral fellow in the fall of 2009 after completing her PhD at Simon Fraser University. She worked under the supervision of philosopher aof technology Andrew Feenberg, studying the...

Post-doctoral fellowship

on Surveillance and Security: “Exploring U.S. Department of Homeland Security Fusion Centers."

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Vanderbilt University is seeking a postdoctoral-level scholar for a research project on the social, legal, and technical dimensions of DHS “fusion centers.” This project will document and evaluate the information sharing practices of fusion centers, with a focus on...

New Deep Packet Inspection website

A new website on deep packet inspection in Canada is now online: www.deeppacketinspection.ca . Deep packet inspection is a networking technology that ISPs use to garner actionable network intelligence about their customers' data traffic.

The technology was at the center of last year's network management/net neutrality hearings by the CRTC, and has been used by American and British...

PhD Studentship

The Open University Business School in conjunction with The New Transparency project invites applications for a PhD scholarship, based at the Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, in its ESRC recognized Research Degrees Programme.

The Open University Business School in conjunction with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funded ‘New Transparency: Surveillance and...

New Book - Surveillance Society in the Global South

Congratulations to Nelson Arteaga Botello on his recent publication Sociedad de la vigilancia en Sur-Global ( Surveillance Society in the Global South ) Mexico: Miguel Angel Porrua and UAEM, 2009.

New Book - Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity

Congratulations to Torin Monahan on his new publication Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity . New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, (2010).

Threats of terrorism, natural disaster, identity theft, job loss, illegal immigration, and even biblical apocalypse -- all are perils that trigger alarm in people today. Although there may be a factual basis for...

Call for Papers: The Political Economy of Surveillance

A Research Workshop Open University Business School, UK Sept 9 – 12 2010

500 word abstracts for original academic papers on the Political Economy of Surveillance should be sent to the co-organizers: Dr Kirstie Ball , Open University Business School and Professor Laureen Snider , Department of Sociology, Queen’s University. The deadline for proposals is April 30th, 2010....

Post-doc position at University of Alberta

The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting research project seeks to fill one post-doctoral fellow position, starting summer 2010 based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta . This is a one year term position with the possibility of renewal.

The fellow will perform research in the area of the New Transparency's...