Citizen Lab Fellow Christopher Parsons will participate in the Politics of Surveillance Workshop taking place at the University of Ottawa from 8-10 May.

The 8 May schedule is open to the public and can be viewed here.

Parsons will give two talks, once with Adam Molnar titled, “Studying State Surveillance Practices in Canada: Opportunities, Limitations, and Headaches.” In this talk, they will draw on their research into unmanned aerial vehicles to identify a series of practices that academics can undertake to both influence and understand contemporary surveillance governance policy processes, as well as to enhance academics’ integration and engagement with government and civil society organizations involved in those processes.

In the opening plenary, “Methods for Rending Transparent Contemporary Surveillance Practices,” Parsons will reflect on government surveillance in Canada. Canadian academics, journalists, politicians, civil liberties advocates, and citizens have all been involved in rendering government surveillance transparent. Such transparency is needed to understand the full extent of contemporary surveillance and whether (and which) reforms are needed.