Transparent Lives Surveillance in Canada

Although most Canadians are familiar with surveillance cameras and airport security, relatively few are aware of the extent to which the potential for surveillance is now embedded in virtually every aspect of our lives. We cannot walk down a city street, register for a class, pay with a credit card, hop on an airplane, or make a telephone call without data being captured and processed. Where does such information go? Who makes use of it, and for what purpose? Is the loss of control over our personal information merely the price we pay for using social media and other forms of electronic communication, or should we be wary of systems that make us visible—and thus vulnerable—to others as never before?

The work of a multidisciplinary research team, Transparent Lives explains why and how surveillance is expanding—mostly unchecked—into every facet of our lives. Through an investigation of the major ways in which both government and private sector organizations gather, monitor, analyze, and share information about ordinary citizens, the volume identifies nine key trends in the processing of personal data that together raise urgent questions of privacy and social justice. Intended not only to inform but to make a difference, the volume is deliberately aimed at a broad audience, including legislators and policymakers, journalists, civil liberties groups, educators, and, above all, the reading public.

About the Authors

The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting—a Major Collaborative Research Initiative funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada—seeks to understand the factors contributing to the expansion of surveillance as a technology of governance, including its underlying principles, technological infrastructures, and institutional frameworks, and to elucidate the social consequences of surveillance for institutions and for ordinary people. Transparent Lives reflects research conducted during the first half of this seven-year project. The volume was jointly authored by eleven members of the New Transparency team: Colin J. Bennett (University of Victoria), Andrew Clement (University of Toronto), Arthur Cockfield (Queen’s University), Aaron Doyle (Carleton University), Kevin D. Haggerty (University of Alberta), Stéphane Leman-Langlois (Université Laval), David Lyon (Queen’s University), Benjamin Muller(King’s University College, Western University), David Murakami Wood (Queen’s University), Laureen Snider (Queen’s University), and Valerie Steeves (University of Ottawa).

Reviews

The best defences against mass surveillance, and the power citizens are relinquishing to the state and economic actors, are books such as Transparent Lives, whose mission is to raise awareness and provide concrete actionable information. It is strongly recommended to all readers with an interest in the impact of information technology on our society.

Literary Review of Canada

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. Acknowledgements
3. Introduction
   How Canadian Lives Became Transparent to Watching Eyes
4. Trend 1. Expanding Surveillance
   From the Atypical to the Routine
5. Trend 2. Securitization and Surveillance
   From Privacy Rights to Security Risks
6. Trend 3. The Blurring of Sectors
   From Public Versus Private to Public with Private
7. Trend 4. The Growing Ambiguity of Personal Information
   From Personally Identified to Personally Identifiable
8. Trend 5. Expanding Mobile and Location-Based Surveillance
   From Who You Are to Where You Are
9. Trend 6. Globalizing Surveillance
   From the Domestic to the Worldwide
10. Trend 7. Embedding Surveillance in Everyday Environments
    From the Surveillance of People to the Surveillance of Things
11. Trend 8. Going Biometric
    From Surveillance of the Body to Surveillance in the Body
12. Trend 9. Watching by the People
    From Them to Us
13. Conclusion
    What Can Be Done?
14. Appendix 1. Surveillance and Privacy Law: FAQs
15. Appendix 2. Surveillance Movies
16. Appendix 3. How to Protect Your Privacy Online: FAQs
17. Appendix 4. Canadian NGOs Concerned with Surveillance, Privacy, and Civil Liberties
18. Appendix 5. Further Reading
19. List of Contributors
20. Index

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.