Surveillance Studies Centre

Big data promises to further transform the ways that information and power are intertwined. Today, vast datasets of personal information are assembled and analyzed in unprecedented ways and novel domains. They prompt fresh queries about privacy, social sorting and civil liberties.

With the rise of digitization comes the rise of Big Data, which the Surveillance Studies Centre (SSC) is grappling with in their current project, Big Data Surveillance. The Surveillance Studies Centre is affiliated with the Department of Sociology at Queen’s University, and traces its history to a thriving surveillance studies tradition that began at Queen’s in the early 90s. The team of the Surveillance Studies Centre believe that surveillance and the Big Data associated with it have far reaching implications in terms of power, politics, and ethics. Specifically, the Big Data Surveillance project examines Big Data’s influence in three linked streams: security, marketing, and governance.

To find out more about the Surveillance Studies Centre and its work, visit its website.