Transparent Lives: Surveillance In Canada

Description

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. Front Matter ......Page 2 Table of Contents ......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Introduction: How Canadian Lives Became Transparent to Watching Eyes......Page 16 Trend 1. Expanding Surveillance: From the Atypical to the Routine......Page 32 Trend 2. Securitization and Surveillance: From Privacy Rights to Security Risks......Page 52 Trend 3. The Blurring of Sectors: From Public Versus Private to Public with Private......Page 68 Trend 4. The Growing Ambiguity of Personal Information: From Personally Identified to Personally Identifiable......Page 84 Trend 5. Expanding Mobile and Location-Based Surveillance: From Who You Are to Where You Are......Page 100 Trend 6. Globalizing Surveillance: From the Domestic to the Worldwide......Page 118 Trend 7. Embedding Surveillance in Everyday Environments: From the Surveillance of People to the Surveillance of Things......Page 142 Trend 8. Going Biometric: From Surveillance of the Body to Surveillance in the Body......Page 164 Trend 9. Watching by the People: From Them to Us......Page 180 Conclusion: What Can Be Done?......Page 196 Appendix 1. Surveillance and Privacy Law: FAQs......Page 210 Appendix 2. Surveillance Movies......Page 218 Appendix 3. How to Protect Your Privacy Online: FAQs......Page 220 Appendix 4. Canadian NGOs Concerned with Surveillance, Privacy, and Civil Liberties......Page 228 Appendix 5. Further Reading......Page 234 Contributors......Page 240 Index......Page 244