Vivre á nu: La surveillance au Canada (Athabasca University Press)

by Colin J. Bennett (Editor), Kevin D. Haggerty (Editor), David Lyon (Editor)

Nombre de Canadiens savent que les organismes du gouvernement s adonnent a de la surveillance de masse en utilisant les donnees telephoniques et electroniques. Neanmoins, peu d entre eux sont reellement conscients de l influence reelle que cette surveillance a sur presque tous les aspects de leur vie quotidienne. Aujourd hui, nous ne pouvons faire une promenade au centre-ville, assister a un cours, payer au moyen d une carte de credit, monter a bord d un avion ou faire un appel sans que des donnees soient capturees et traitees. Ou cette information s en va-t-elle? Qui l utilise? Qui en sort gagnant et qui en sort perdant? Est-ce que le prix a payer pour utiliser les medias sociaux et d autres moyens de communication electronique est de desserrer notre emprise sur nos renseignements personnels? Au contraire, devrions-nous nous mefier des systemes qui nous rendent plus que jamais visibles et, par consequent, vulnerables aux yeux des autres? Vivre a nu est l uvre d une equipe de recherche multidisciplinaire et explique comment la surveillance s accroit pratiquement sans que personne y porte attention dans toutes les spheres de notre vie. En analysant les principaux moyens employes par le secteur public et le secteur prive pour recueillir, faire le suivi, analyser et echanger des renseignements au sujet des citoyens ordinaires, les auteurs de l ouvrage ont degage neuf grandes tendances dans le traitement des donnees personnelles. D ailleurs, collectivement, ces neuf grandes tendances soulevent des questions pressantes au sujet de la vie privee et de la justice sociale. Cet ouvrage vise non seulement a informer, mais egalement a changer le cours des choses. Il cible intentionnellement un grand public: les decideurs, les journalistes, les groupes de defense des libertes civiles, les enseignants et, par-dessus tout, les lecteurs du grand public.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mike Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the collective product of a large group of academics from the fields of political science, law, information technology, sociology, criminology, and surveillance studies. It argues that the use of surveillance technologies has grown significantly since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and that we as citizens should be wary of this. The authors define and describe nine broad trends in surveillance that the see in Canada:

- surveillance is expanding rapidly
- the accelerating demand for security drives much surveillance
- public and private agencies are increasingly intertwined
- it is more difficult to decide what information is private and what is not
- mobile and location-based surveillance is expanding
- surveillance practices and processes are becoming globalized
- surveillance is now embedded in everyday environments
- the human body is increasingly a source of surveillance
- social surveillance is growing

It concludes with some advice for how citizens can respond to these trends.

The writing is generally clear and understandable, and I believe that most of the facts reported in this book are accurate and true. I did find, however, that the tone was slanted from the beginning. The authors state that "Surveillance does matter." It proceeds to lace every argument with emotionally-loaded adjectives that portray any form of surveillance as "Orwellian", "intrusive", and "invasive". There is merit to some of their arguments, but the authors' obvious bias tends to reduce the strength of those arguments. This book would have been better if it had been more objective.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bureaucrats living off governmental handouts from the collected taxes are here to bamboozle you about the Evil Warlocks of the 21st century: the private companies that magically corrupt the benevolent government. Sure, the government has its faults, usually corporate shills, right?