News

Police and governments may increasingly adopt surveillance technologies in response to coronavirus fears

By Joe Masoodi , The Conversation, 23 March, 2020

Facial recognition software could be applied to managing people during pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated headlines with public fears mounting and governments around the world scrambling to find ways to control the spread of the virus. Many governments have declared national emergencies, with the Canadian federal government...

Collecting race-based data during coronavirus pandemic may fuel dangerous prejudices

By Sachil Singh , The Conversation, 27 May, 2020

Racially sorted patients are surveilled, often with negative consequences.

Brian Sinclair wheeled himself into a Winnipeg emergency room in September 2008 seeking assistance with his catheter bag. He had a bladder infection, but instead of receiving treatment, remained in the waiting room for 34 hours until his body...

Series on COVID-19 Response in Japanese

Midori Ogasawara has written a series of articles for Japan’s national newspaper Asahi Shimbun web magazine GLOBE+, in May 2020, available here . All are written in Japanese, but there are brief English summaries attached to get a sense of the series. All articles are so far about surveillance developing in response to COVID-19,...

The coronavirus pandemic highlights the need for a surveillance debate beyond ‘privacy’

By David Lyon, The Conversation, 24 May 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has stirred up a surveillance storm. Researchers rush to develop new forms of public health monitoring and tracking, but releasing personal data to private companies and governments carries risks to our individual and collective rights. COVID-19 opens the lid on a much-needed debate. Read More

The Surveillance Studies Centre COVID-19 Update

The SSC is hard at work during the global Coronavirus pandemic. The surveillance dimensions of efforts to slow the spread of the virus are tremendous and far-reaching. Indeed, they are not only global but planetary. At such a time, health-related surveillance is proposed and practiced with great urgency in the attempt to save lives, reduce suffering and to restore some...