News

Security, Convenience and Privacy

Security, Convenience and Privacy: Trade-offs in the Information Society

The Final Conference of the RESPECT project is scheduled for 20th to 22nd April 2015 and will take place in Diamant Center in Brussels. Website of the conference is available from here. Confirmed speakers already include Tanja Fajon (MEP) and Tony Porter (Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England and Wales).

Joint Final Event 2014

IRISS – RESPECT – SURVEILLE Joint Final Event 2014

Joint Final Event 2014 brings together three successful projects dealing with various effects surveillance has on nowadays society. Conference will take place on 29th and 30th October 2014 in Diamant Conference and Business Centre in Brussels.

Website of the conference is available at JointFinalEvent2014.eu. Further information are to be announced very soon.

2nd Policy Workshop in Barcelona

Technology and Crime: Law, Privacy and Policy in the Era of Big Data

After the very successful 1st Policy Workshop titled Privacy Enabled Surveillance held in Ljubljana we are very happy to invite you for the 2nd Policy Workshop. Technology and Crime: Law, Privacy and Policy in the Era of Big Data will take place on 17th and 18th September in Barcelona.The worksop will feature a diversity of invited speakers, the research outcomes of the RESPECT project and peer-reviewed studies received in response to Call for Papers.

Website of the conference is available at RESPECTBarcelona.eu. Programme of the workshop is also available on the website.

Smarter Law for Smart Surveillance

Smarter Law for Smart Surveillance

Final conference of the SMART project will examine and discuss the risk and opportunities that are posed by smart surveillance. The event brings together experts from different fields and perspectives including policy-makers, law enforcement, academia and citizen groups. The conference will feature a diversity of invited speakers, the research outcomes of the SMART project and peer-reviewed studies.

We are happy to announce that Jan Philipp Albrecht, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur for the new Data Protection Regulation accepted to be keynote speaker for the conference.

Conference will take place in premises of the Committee of Regions in Brussels on 4th and 5th March 2014.

Call for Papers is available here.

Website of the conference is here.

SMART Intelligence Investigation Conference

Invitation

Smart surveillance systems are increasingly becomin more widely used by police and security forces around the world. Such systems use technology to collect raw data via interlinked multisensor receptors to allow automated data processing, assessment and analysis as well as (semi) automated decision-making with the gathered data. This concerns both physical surveillance in key areas, such as border control and date monitoring on mobile devices, such as smart phones, and in cyberspace in key areas such as cyber-terrorism.

Conference will take place on 19th and 20th September in Brussels.

For more information see the event’s website.

RESPECT Workshop – OPENSUR-2013

Aim and Scope

Convenience and cost-effectiveness are the two key considerations for both citizens and security forces when deciding which technologies to embrace or avoid in the Information Society. State actors and private corporations adopt ICTs because they are costeffective. Once adopted these ICTs are then capable of being bridged in multiple ways permitting police/security forces to go beyond the data they gather directly but also increasingly tap into data gathered and stored by private corporations. These ICTs, which have to date gone through a period of largely organic growth, will be deemed to be “in balance” if they are implemented in a way which respects individual privacy while still maximising convenience, profitability, public safety and security.

OPENSUR-2013 is the first policy workshop of the EC funded project RESPECT (“Rules, Expectations & Security through Privacy-Enhanced Convenient Technologies”) coordinated by the University of Groningen. The workshop is hosted by the University of Ljubljana. The aim of the workshop is to investigate if the current and foreseeable implementation of ICTs in surveillance is indeed “in balance”, as well as to communicate the outcomes of the project activities to policy-makers and other stakeholders (academics, citizens, police associations, public agencies, civil society, media, etc) and to receive feedback from those stakeholders.

Call for Participation

This is an open call and all interested stakeholders are invited to attend this workshop, either as presenters or observers. All the participants that wish to make a presentation are invited to submit an abstract of their presentation related to the workshop’s topics. The topics of the workshop will be organised around the following themes:

  • Economic and social impact of surveillance
  •  Data collection and analysis for crime fight
  •  The effectiveness of CCTV in preventing and solving crime
  •  Social network analysis for crime fight
  •  Possibilities and problems of geolocalisation
  •  Regulating surveillance: Measures, dilemmas and limitations

Due to the workshop format, all presenters will be asked to conclude their presentations with a list of policy recommendations related to the above topics.

Selected presenters will be invited to submit a full paper after the workshop to be considered for publication in a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.

Registration

All the stakeholders that are interested to attend the workshop are invited to register by 31 May 2013 using the registration form. Registration will be accepted on a first-come, first served basis. In order to accomplish a broad representation of stakeholders, the number of registrants may need to be limited. All participants are required to pay a registration fee.

Important Dates

  • Abstract Submission  …………………… Apr 30
  • Author Notification  …………………….. May 17
  • Registration Due   ………………………… May 31
  • Presentation Submission  …………… Jun 17
  • Workshop Date …………………………… Jul 2-3

For more information please see the event’s website.

RESPECT Workshop

RESPECT will hold its first official event – the Full Immersion Workshop on Social Cost of Surveillance. This event will take place on 27th February 2013 in Brno.

Its discussions will centre on the social costs of surveillance, which are to be investigated through specific questions and issues. Results of these dicussions will be reflected in the following RESPECT research, either in the questionnaire for the quantitative survey or in the discussion outline for the focus groups.

Surveilling Surveillance: A SMART Project Workshop

A sister project to RESPECT – SMART Project (GA 261727) – will hold its 1st Policy Workshop in Florence, Italy. This event will take place on the 25th and 26th September. Its preliminary programme has now been made available here.

The registration for this workshop is still open.

Form more information, please refer to the event’s website.

Democracy Now! on state surveillance

The Democracy Now! show with Amy Goodman aired a discussion on state
surveillance on Friday 20th April. This discussion may be accessed via this link

http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2012/4/20

Google offers opt-out method for Wi-Fi geolocation mapping

Prof. Joseph Cannataci, the SMART project’s coordinating person, was recently interviewed by IDG News Service in regards to Google’s decision to offer opt-out from its geolocation mapping.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) had determined that Google violates the Dutch law when it collects the WiFi MAC addresses and geographical location of wireless access points without consent. The Dutch DPA has threatened Google with a fine up to €1 million if it did not take steps to remedy this situation. As a result, Google as allowed opting out from the geolocation mapping.

Prof. Cannataci has pointed out that this opt-out method might not be enough and that Google may face future actions because European data protection legislation requires companies to obtain consent for the collection of personal data in advance.

The full feature may be accessed at PCWorld here.