Edward Snowden's disclosure of classified documents reveal that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its Five Eyes partners are operating a secret global signal intelligence apparatus of unprecedented scope and intensity. The threats this mass surveillance poses for privacy, freedom of expression and democratic governance have provoked widespread concern.
This talk begins with an overview of the main forms of Five Eyes surveillance, highlighting the interception of communication at internet choke points. It then introduces the Snowden Digital Surveillance Archive, a searchable collection of all published Snowden documents, illustrating its use as a research resource by reporting on work-in-progress aimed at making more visible the various sites and organizational actors involved in internet interception. The talk concludes with a discussion of the actions IT specialists may take in their professional and civic capacities for better understanding mass state surveillance, resisting its more dangerous aspects and developing networked infrastructures more consistent with democratic values.
Presenter Andrew Clement is a Professor Emeritus of Information at the University of Toronto, where he coordinates the Information Policy Research Program and co-founded the Identity Privacy and Security Institute. With a PhD in Computer Science, he has had longstanding research and teaching interests in the social implications of information/communication technologies and participatory design. Among his recent privacy/surveillance research projects are two crowd-sourced mapping tools: IXmaps.ca, which renders more visible the paths individual data packets take across the internet and where they may be exposed to NSA mass interception activities; and SurveillanceRights.ca, which documents camera surveillance installations and their (non)compliance with privacy regulations. Clement is a founder of the Snowden Digital Surveillance Archive, the world's first publicly accessible, fully searchable, multiply-indexed database of all leaked Snowden documents published by news media.
Time: 13:00-14:30