Surveillance Ethics Conference

The Ethics of Surveillance held at IDEA-CETL and ICS, University of Leeds 27-28 February 2012

 This conference will consider key issues in the ethics of surveillance. Surveillance practices have been increasing in the private and public sphere over the last 30 years. Recently the ethics of these practices have been increasingly questioned with US & European companies selling equipment to oppressive regimes in the Middle East and US & European police using sophisticated techniques in monitoring legitimate protests. At the same time other aspects of surveillance are broadly accepted, such as CCTV in the UK and identity cards in Germany. However there has been little normative reflection on surveillance at the academic level. This conference will seek to address this lack and suggest ways forward.

 One such possible approach is the use of categories traditionally associated with the just war tradition. Such categories include authority, just cause, discrimination, proportionality, chance of success, intention and necessity.

Possible subjects for discussion may thus include, but not be limited to:

• What are justifiable reasons for surveillance?
• Are there categories of people who should be immune from surveillance?
• Is intention relevant to surveillance?
• Is there a default right not to be surveilled?
• How should the question of legitimate authority be addressed in surveillance?
• What is proportionality and what is meant by proportionate surveillance?
• Is there such a thing as harmless surveillance?
• When does surveillance become necessary?

To book a place at the conference please complete and submit the registration form below. You will then be sent details of how to pay.

Programme

Day One

12.00 – 13.00	Registration and Lunch
IDEA-CETL
13.00 – 14.00	Keynote Speaker  Tom Sorrel
“Agents of Surveillance and the Wrongness of Intrusion.”
14.00 – 14.45     Session 1
Room A: Jason Pridmore“The DigIDeas project: Life chances, risks, and choices as emerging ethical issues in cases studies of digitization”		Room B: Timo Airaksinen“Moral Duties and the Justification of Surveillance”
14.45 – 15.30     Session 2
Room A: Gülden Gürsoy-Ataman “Digital Personifications of Citizens in Turkey From Mernis to E-ID: Digital Body and Digital Surveillance”		Room B: Rosamunde van Brakel“Ethical Reflections on Surveillance of Children: A Difficult Balance between Care and Control”
15:30 – 16:15      Session 3
Room A: Pinelopi Troullinou“Exploring Resistance to Biometric Identification Documents as Means of Facilitating State Surveillance”		Room B: John Fitzgerald“The Ethical and Epistemic Problems of ‘Open Circuit Television’”
16:15 – 16:30     Coffee
16:30 – 17:15     Session 4
Room A:  Katerina Hadjimatheou“Surveillance Without Suspicion”		Room B: Heta Aleksandra Gylling“Conservatism and the False Sense of Security”
17:15 – 18:00     Session 5
Room A: Desiree Lim“Surveillance Technologies and Racial Profiling: An Ethical Perspective”		Room B: John Guelke“Privacy in Public Places and Counter-Terrorism Investigations”
18.00 – 19.00	Keynote Speaker  Juliet Lodge
T.B.D.
19.00 –	Dinner at Red Chilli

Day Two

09.00- 09.45	Keynote Speaker Gregory Raddick
“Working Across Disciplines”
09.45- 10.45	Keynote Speaker  Katja Franco Aas
“’Crimmigrant’ Bodies and Bona Fide Travellers: Surveillance, Citizenship and Global Governance”
10.45 – 11.00      Coffee
11:00 – 11:45      Session 1
Room A: Steve Wright“The Militarization of Surveillance and Corporate Big Brother”		Room B: Kevin Macnish“Just Surveillance? Towards a Normative Theory of Surveillance”
11.45 – 12.30      Session 2
Room A: Aaron Martin“The Ethics of Surveillance Research Methods”		Room B: David Barnard-Wills“An Ethics of Cyber-Security Needs an Ethics of Surveillance”
12.30 – 13.30	Keynote Speaker  Charles Raab
“Regulating Surveillance: Extending the Scope of Privacy Impact Assessment”
13.30 – 14.30	Lunch and Depart

The conference organisers would like to acknowledge with particular thanks the support of LiSS-COST Action and the University of Leeds in making this conference possible. Thanks are also extended to the European Commission Framework 7 programme under Grant Agreement 230368 ( SiS-2008-1.1.2.1) Ethics and new and emerging fields of science and technology and the JMECE. 

Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS-COST Action)

Institute of Communication Studies (ICS)