CRISP news and events

CRISP Co-hosts IFIP Summer School

'Time for a Revolution', the 10th International IFIP Summer School on Privacy and Identity Management will take place on 16-21 August 2015 in Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. The summer school is hosted by the University of Edinburgh School of Informatics and CRISP. 

IFIP Summer School 2015: Privacy and Identity Management

CRISP has teamed up with IFIP to host the 2015 IFIP Summer School at the University of Edinburgh between 16-21 August 2015.

The theme of the School will be ‘Privacy and Identity Management: Time for a Revolution?’

The School is designed for Masters and Doctoral Students.

Abstract submission deadline is 1^st April 2015.

Public Lecture: The Surveillance Society – Who’s Watching Who?

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 5.30pm, 5 March 2015

CRISP Director, Professor William Webster, will be speaking on ‘everyday surveillance’ at this public event organised by the Scottish Public Law Group and the University of Strathclyde’s Faculty of Law.

Other speakers include: Joanna Cavan, Head of the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office; and, Elizabeth Knight, a co-Director of the Open Rights Group.

The event is open to the general public, although pre-registration is required.

Festival of Ideas: Surveillance, Privacy and Security - Saturday 21 March 2015

CRISP has hooked up with the Royal Society of Arts to deliver a public workshop entitled 'Surveillance, Privacy and Security: Rights, Responsibilities and Challenges'.

The event will take place at the St Stephen Centre, Edinburgh on Saturday 21 March, 9.30am - 12.30pm

Speakers include: Professors Charles Raab, University of Edinburgh; William Webster, University of Stirling; and, Andrew Neal, University of Edinburgh.

The event is part of the RSA MCICH Festival of Ideas.

IRISS Policy Brief on Subject Access Requests

The IRISS project has published a policy brief concerning citizens’ rights and subject access requests in order to inform the reform of EU Data Protection rules.

IRISS Policy Brief
irissproject.eu

Commercialising Privacy: CRISP Panel at CPDP 2015

CRISP is hosting a panel session exploring the commercial opportunities offered by privacy by design at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) Annual Conference in Brussels in January 2015. Speakers include: Geoffrey Bowker (University of California), John Borking (Borking Consultancy), Kasey Chappelle (Vodaphone Privacy Group), Tom Ilube (Call Credit Group) and Jason Pridmore (Erasmus University). CPDP is Europe’s leading privacy and data protection conference for practitioners and policy-makers.

CRISP Annual Lecture 2014: Digital Rights Critical for Europe in the face of Mass Untargeted Government Surveillance

The 2014 annual CRISP lecture was presented by Claude Moraes MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee, at the London School of Economics on 21 November 2014. Mr Moraes spoke on ‘Mass Surveillance, EU Citizens and The State’. His central theme was LIBE’s enquiry into Surveillance in Europe, for which he served as Rapporteur, and its 8 point Action Plan for setting up a Digital Bill of Rights for all EU citizens.

2014 CRISP Annual Lecture Report

CRISP Directors to speak on Accountability in the Information Age

Expert Workshop: Cultures of Accountability - Leuven, 13 November 2014

CRISP Directors, Professor Charles Raab and Professor William Webster, are to speak at an expert workshop on the ‘Cultures of Accountability: A Cross-cultural perspective on Current and Future Accountability mechanisms’, to be held in November at the Catholic University Leuven. The event is being organised by the Privacy Preserving Infrastructure for Surveillance (PARIS) research project.

Mass Surveillance, EU Citizens and the State: CRISP Annual lecture by Claude Moraes MEP

CRISP is pleased to announce the rescheduled second CRISP Annual Lecture, entitled: ‘Mass Surveillance, EU Citizens and the State’ will be delivered by

Claude Moraes MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

The lecture will take place at the Wolfson Theatre, London School of Economics and Political Science. New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 2AE , on the 21^st November 2014.

Claude Moraes is MEP for London and was the Rapporteur on the recent LIBE Committee Inquiry on the Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens and is Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party.

Admission is free but participants must register for tickets by email, contact: oubs-crisp@openmail.open.ac.uk

DEMOSEC: Democracy and Security, Brussels, 29-30 October 2014

IRISS – RESPECT – SURVEILLE Joint Final Event

The final conference for the IRISS project will take place in Brussels in October 2014. The conference will set out the depth of surveillance in modern society, it’s impacts and how society adapts and evolves to accommodate surveillance technologies and practices.

Report on DEMOSEC conference proceedings

irissproject.eu

Surveillance in Europe

The IRISS project has published a comprehensive overview of surveillance in Europe. It sets out the multifaceted nature of surveillance and its pervasiveness in Europe.

Surveillance in Europe is edited by David Wright and Reinhard Kreissl and is published by Routledge [2014]

irissproject.eu

IRISS Project Releases Handbook on Increasing Resilience in Surveillance Societies

The Handbook identifies key considerations for policy-makers, regulators, service providers, the media, civil society and the public.

IRISS Handbook: full press release

CRISP Annual Lecture 2014

‘Mass Surveillance, EU Citizens and The State’ delivered by Claude Moraes MEP

The 2014 CRISP Annual Lecture will take place at the Wolfson Theatre, London School of Economics and Political Science. New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 2AE , on the 17^th June 2014. Doors open at 6pm, the lecture starts at 6.30pm and there will be a drinks reception afterwards.

Claude Moraes is MEP for London. He was rapporteur on the recent LIBE Committee Inquiry on the Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens and is deputy leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party.

There is no charge to attend the lecture but places are limited. If you are interested in attending please email oubs-crisp@openmail.open.ac.uk by 10^th June 2014.

LIBE Committee Inquiry on the Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens

CRISP takes the Surveillance Studies Network Biennial Conference by storm

CRISP researchers presented over 10 research papers at the recent Surveillance Studies Network biennial conference, in Barcelona Spain, 24-26 April 2014.

Conference abstracts booklet

Public Panel: Surveillance, the State and the Media
29 April 2014, University of Edinburgh

CRISP, the Royal Society of Arts and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues are hosting a public panel and discussion on 'surveillance, the state and the media'. Panellists will include: Iain Macwhirter (broadcaster and journalist), Professor Martyn Percy (Principal, Ripon College), Dr Michael McCahill (University of Hull) and Professor Charles Raab (University of Edinburgh). The event will be chaired by Professor Kevin Dunion, Executive Director, Centre for Freedom of Information, University of Dundee. The event is open to members of the general public and there is no charge for admission.

thersa.org
Centre for Theology and Public Issues - University of Edinburgh

CRISP Doctoral Workshop: 16-21 June 2014

Places are still available on this year's CRISP (Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy) Doctoral workshop! The workshop will be held at the Open University in Milton Keynes from 16 - 21st June 2014. A number of bursaries, covering workshop fees, are now available for students travelling from further afield within or from outside Europe. Please indicate whether you would like to be considered for a bursary on your application.

The workshop is designed to offer both theoretical and practical research training to students working on a surveillance or privacy related topic. We welcome students from all relevant disciplinary backgrounds. Confirmed guest speakers include Professor Pete Fussey (University of Essex) and 2013 SSN Book Award Winner Dr Dan Trottier (University of Westminster) as well as CRISP directors Professor Kirstie Ball (Open University), Professor William Webster (University of Stirling) and Professor Charles Raab (University of Edinburgh). The workshop will also feature a field trip to the National Computing Centre at Bletchley Park.

We are particularly pleased to announce that the workshop will feature the 2014 CRISP annual lecture, 'Mass Surveillance, EU Citizens and the State' delivered by Claude Moraes MEP. Mr Moraes was the rapporteur for the European Parliament LIBE Committee's report on the US NSA Surveillance programme. The lecture will be given at the LSE on the 17th June 2014.

The closing date for applications is 14th March 2014.

Camera Surveillance in Jersey: Scrutiny Panel Report

The States of Jersey Government has published the Home Affairs and Education Scrutiny Panel Report entitled ‘Camera Surveillance in Jersey’. CRISP Director, Professor William Webster, was appointed as a Specialist Advisor to the Panel. Scrutiny Panels are the formal mechanism used to hold the States of Jersey Government and Ministers to account.

Camera Surveillance in Jersey: report

ASSERT Masterclass in Societal Security – February 2014

The first ASSERT Masterclass in Societal Security took place in Stirling in February 2014. During the event, hosted by CRISP, 30 security experts explored ways in which societal impact assessments can be integrated into European research proposals and projects. This will be a requirement of research funded by the European Commission h3020 programme. The Masterclass was a great success and will be repeated in Brussels, in April, as part of the ASSERT Final Conference.

assert-project.eu

CRISP Awarded RCUK/EPSRC Grant to Host Privacy by Design Workshop

CRISP has been awarded a grant by the RCUK/EPSRC funded ‘New Economic Models in the Digital Economy (NEMODE)’ project to host workshop entitled ‘Privacy by Design: The Research Agenda’. The workshop will explore commercial opportunities presented by Privacy by Design (PbD) approaches, particularly in relation to embedding privacy values in technological development, providing technology companies with a competitive advantage. The workshop will take place at the Open University in Autumn 2014.

About NEMODE

CRISP Panel on ANPR at CPDP

CRISP is hosting a panel session on ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) Conference, in Brussels, January 2014. Speakers include: Willem Debeuckelaere, the Belgium Privacy Commissioner, Ad Hellemons from the Netherlands Police Agency and Big Brother Watch’s Nick Pickles. CPDP is Europe’s leading privacy and data protection conference for practitioners and policy-makers. 

cpdpconferences.org

IRISS project discusses European responses to the Snowden revelations

The IRISS project, funded by the EC under the 7th Framework Programme and of which the University of Stirling is a key partner, has prepared a discussion paper on European responses to the revelations that have been emerging from the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the contractor to the US National Security Agency (NSA). It draws various conclusions related to the failure of oversight, the privacy-security trade-off paradigm, the breakdown of open democracy, resilience in a surveillance society and protecting privacy in a surveillance society. The discussion paper is available for download on the IRISS consortium’s website (irissproject.eu).

CRISP Doctoral School, 16-20 June 2014

CRISP invites doctoral research students from any academic discipline to participate in an international Doctoral Training School to take place at the Open University in June 2014. The School is a five day event of intensive, multi-disciplinary research methods and skills training in the field of Surveillance Studies. It will feature a range of knowledge-exchange and research-training activities, as well as providing social and networking opportunities. The deadline for applications is 14 March 2014.

ASSERT Masterclass in Societal Security

The ASSERT Project welcomes applications for participants to take part in a Masterclass in Societal Security. The Masterclass will take place at the Stirling Highland Hotel, Stirling, between 3-4 February 2014. Participation is fully funded by the EC FP7 ASSERT Project. More information about the ASSERT project can be found at assert-project.eu.

ASSERT Database of Experts in Societal Security

The European Commission funded ASSERT project is looking to recruit experts in ‘societal security’ to a new expert database. Membership of the database is free and provides experts with opportunities to keep up to date with latest developments in societal security, to interact and share knowledge with other experts in societal security, and to participate in a fully funded certified ‘Masterclass in Societal Security’. Information about how to join the ASSERT database and further information about the ASSERT project can be found on the ASSERT website. Please note that to join the ASSERT database you are required to read the ASSERT Database Processing Statement‌.

MOSAIC Ethics Advisory Board

Professor William Webster has been appointed Chair of the independent Ethics Advisory Board of the European Commission funded MOSAIC project. The ‘MOSAIC Multi-Modal Situation Assessment and Analytics Platform’ project seeks to integrate surveillance and intelligence systems into a decision support tool to be used by practitioners.

Surveillance Evolutions: LiSS Conference 4

The final conference of the Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) COST Action will take place in Brussels on the 30-31 May 2013. The conference represents the culmination of the LiSS Action, which has been led and managed from the Stirling Management School. The programme for the event incorporates academic presentations and discussions, as well as some short surveillance films and a surveillance sandpit.

Skeptics in the Pub: Public Lecture 20 June 2013

CRISP Director, Professor William Webster, will give a public talk entitled ‘The myths and realities of CCTV in the UK’ at the Edinburgh Skeptics event on 20 June 2013.

Details of the event can be found on the Edinburgh Skeptics website.

Special Advisor: States of Jersey Government

CRISP Director, Professor William Webster, has been appointed as a specialist advisor to the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel of the States of Jersey Government for a ‘Scrutiny review of camera surveillance in Jersey’. Scrutiny Panels are the formal mechanism used to hold the States of Jersey Government and Ministers to account.

CRISP Participates in Privacy-Preserving Clustering Workshop

Brussels, 22 March 2013

CRISP Director, Professor William Webster, gave the keynote presentation at the Clustering Workshop: ‘Privacy By Co-Design in Socio-ethical and Privacy Preserving Surveillance Systems Video-Analytics: Framework Architecture, Algorithms and Impact Assessment’. This workshop is part of the MediaEval 2013: Privacy Preserving Video-Analytics Challenge organized by the EC-funded project VideoSense: Network of Excellence for Privacy-Preserving Video-Analytics.

First Annual CRISP Lecture: 'The Politics of Privacy and the Privacy of Politics’

The first annual CRISP Lecture entitled 'The Politics of Privacy and the Privacy of Politics: Voter Surveillance in Western Democracies' will be given by Professor Colin Bennett (Department of Political Science, University of Victoria, BC, Canada; Visiting Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) on Wednesday 3 April 2013 at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Bennett is one of the world’s leading experts on privacy protection policies at the domestic and international levels.‌

Your Future in a Surveillance Society: The Salon Project

As part of ‘The Salon Project’, CRISP Director, Professor William Webster, will be talking about ‘Your future in a surveillance society’. The Salon Project, inspired by the rituals of European 19th century salons, is a large scale interactive performance where audience members are invited to dress in full 19th / early 20th Century costume. It is not a simple historic re-enactment, it is focused on the total immersion of the audience within the event. By placing the participants in the dress of the period, their perception of where they are and who they are, is shifted, transporting them to a place of social discourse, a theatre of conversation and debate.

Inaugural CRISP Doctoral School

‌The inaugural CRISP Doctoral School was held at the University of Stirling between 4-8th February 2013. The school, funded partly by the Living in Surveillance Societies (LISS) COST Action), attracted 20 participants from across Europe. It incorporated a range of activities, including specialist state-of-the-art lectures, research workshops, social activities and a film screening. The school provided an ideal opportunity for doctoral students to present and explore their doctoral research, to share ideas and experiences and to develop their personal networks. The next CRISP Doctoral School is due to take place in Spring 2014.

CRISP Director Undertakes Research for Information Commissioner's Office

Professor Charles Raab (CRISP Director, University of Edinburgh) and Trilateral Research Consulting have been commissioned by the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO), to undertake a review of their Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) methodology and guidance material. An area for potential improvement identified by ICO is the integration between PIAs and existing project management and risk management processes, not least in the private sector. The research will look at PIAs and a variety of common project-management and risk-management methodologies, and aims to provide the ICO with practical suggestions on how integration could be realised. The research commenced in January 2013 and a report will be completed early in May 2013.

‘Surveillance and the Meaning of Life’: Professorial Inaugural Lecture

‌Professor William Webster (pictured here with Deputy Principal Professor Steve Burt), CRISP Director and Professor of Public Policy and Management at the University of Stirling, delivered his professorial inaugural lecture entitled ‘Surveillance and the meaning of life’ at the University of Stirling on 1st February 2013. The event was ‘sold out’ and attend by members of the Stirling academic community as well as practitioners, policy-makers and the general public.

Free Film Screening followed by Public Lecture

The ‘Living in Surveillance Societies’ (LiSS) European Research Project, and the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP), will hold a doctoral school early in February, which will include a screening of the film: ‘Red Road’ followed by a public lecture‌.

‘Red Road’ is an award winning, surveillance themed film, directed by Angela Arnold. The screening, which is free, will be at MacRobert, and is open for staff and students at the University to attend.

Free Film Screening and Public Lecture
Open to all staff and students of the University

Film: ‘Red Road’ (2006, Cert. 18). Directed by Angela Arnold
Date: Thursday 7th February 2013
Venue: MacRobert Centre, University of Stirling 
Film Screening: 4pm-6pm
Public Lecture: 'More Than Meets the Eye: 'Red Road’ and Surveillance Movies', 6pm-7pm, Professor Mike Nellis, University of Strathclyde 
RSVP: Charles Leleux

IRISS Press Release, 17 January 2013

IRISS project calls for greater transparency and accountability re use of surveillance systems

The IRISS project, funded by the EC under the 7th Framework Programme, has just published a major 412-page report entitled Surveillance, Fighting Crime and Violence. The report analyses the factors underpinning the development and use of surveillance systems and technologies by both public authorities and private actors, their implications in fighting crime and terrorism, social and economic costs, protection and infringement of civil liberties, fundamental rights and ethical aspects.

The IRISS project report can be found on the IRISS website.

Call for Participants: LiSS Doctoral Training School, University of Stirling, 4-8 February 2013

The Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) COST Action (IS0807) invites doctoral research students from any academic discipline to participate in an international Doctoral Training School to take place in February 2013. Participation in the School will be funded by LiSS and students are expected to be engaged in research relevant to furthering our understanding of everyday life in surveillance societies. The Doctoral Training School will be hosted by the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP) and will take place at the University of Stirling in Scotland, UK. The School will be a week long event (4-8 February 2013) and will incorporate a range of knowledge-exchange and research-training activities, as well as providing social and networking opportunities. Most of the sessions will be delivered via an interactive workshop format and will be facilitated by leading scholars in the surveillance studies topic area. Students participating in the School will have the opportunity to develop their own doctoral research projects and well as learning transferable research skills.

Welcome to Chris Campbell, new ESRC funded Research Student in CRISP

The Directors of CRISP are delighted to announce that Chris Campbell has been awarded an ESRC funded Doctoral Studentship to undertake doctoral research into surveillance, identity and public policy. Chris will be located with the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy at the University of Stirling. Chris was previously a Policy Adviser in central government and a Strategy Director in a civic start-up business. He formerly studied at the University of Stirling from where he graduated in 2004 with a First Class Honours degree in Business and Business Law, and at the University of Glasgow, where he graduated in 2009 with an MSc in Political Communication. Further information about Chris and his research can be found on the.

Online Privacy Game

What information are you happy to share - and what will you keep to yourself?

Our privacy game gives you the chance to gamble with data - safely...

Privacy refers to how we maintain our personal boundaries by choosing what personal information we share with others. This game is designed to highlight how privacy and consent work online. Players make decisions about which information they reveal, who they reveal it to and why. For example, you may decide to trade some information for gifts when shopping on a website; or you may decide to keep other information secret when posting on a social networking site. During the course of the game the implications of your decisions become apparent.

The online version of the game, which was developed by CRISP Director, Dr Kirstie Ball and researchers at the University’s Business School for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, which takes place from 3-10 November, is designed to communicate and explore privacy and consent issues. It will form part of an online event which will run through the festival.

It is designed for three to five players who can assume the identity of various characters: Hacker, Bank Manager, Advertiser, Health Service Worker, Employer and Community Reporter. As they play the game, the characters are invited to reveal social, digital, financial, biographical, security and health information. The way to win is to keep the most valuable information to themselves whilst trying to find out what information others have.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, takes place from 3-10 November. For further information, visit: esrcfestival.ac.uk

CRISP Launch Event

From 18th-20th September 2012, the University of Stirling Management School, Open University Business School and University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science and School of Law will be launching the new Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP). Events will take place at the University of Stirling on the 18th September and at the Open University on the 20th September.

The event will feature high profile speakers, a showcase of the exciting work we are currently conducting, debates and artwork.

If you would like to attend the Stirling event please email: charles.leleux@stir.ac.uk If you would like to attend the Open University event please email: FBL-CRISP@open.ac.uk