Conference announcement - A Global Surveillance Society?

A Global Surveillance Society?

THE FOURTH BIANNUAL SURVEILLANCE AND SOCIETY CONFERENCE

SUPPORTED BY THE LIVING IN SURVEILLANCE SOCIETIES (LISS) COST ACTION AND SURVEILLANCE STUDIES NETWORK

City University London, UK

April 13 – 15, 2010

Surveillance is a ubiquitous feature of life in the global north, with citizens routinely monitored by institutions employing a range of sophisticated technologies. Increasing levels of surveillance are typically justified by the threat and fear of terrorism, crime and disorder, and to improve public and private services. In spite of this, little is known about the effect of surveillance on individuals, society, the democratic polity, nation states in the developed and developing world, and the evolving nature of humanity. The conference will feature papers which analyse and question these often taken for granted aspects of life within globalising surveillance societies. In particular we welcome papers which examine:

• Citizens’ everyday experiences of surveillance

• The attitudes to surveillance of the watching and the watched

• The development and diffusion of surveillance technologies in their institutional settings

• The political economy of surveillance, and the surveillance industry

• The surveillance of consumers and workers

• Regulatory developments in surveillance, including comparative constitutional and legal settings, privacy, freedom of information and data protection

• The philosophy of surveillance, and philosophical perspectives on surveillance

• The problems inherent within contemporary definitions of surveillance

• The role of the 'Technological' in surveillance studies

• Surveillance, intelligence and war

• Surveillance, sovereignty and the nation state

• Surveillance and the production of space

A formal conference call will be made on the 28th September 2009