Event overview
Symposium bringing together academics, NGO experts and politicians, to discuss the ramifications of the technological leaps of recent years upon individual rights.
Goldsmiths Law, in collaboration with the "New Europeans" civil rights organisation, is hosting an one-day symposium on technology and human rights, in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica and GCHQ-NSA scandals.
Attendance is free, but space is limited.
Digital technology touches on and empowers every aspect of our lives, whether as consumers, users of public services, citizens or voters. Yet the collection and exchange of personal information can interfere with our right to privacy, and the abuse of technology can distort our democracies and lead to serious breaches of human rights.
The informational privacy mega-scandals of recent years, such as the revelation (by Edward Snowden) of the post 9/11 global, mass, surveillance systems operated by security services, or the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal (which came to the surface through the work of Carole Cadwalladr and whistle-blower Chris Wilie), point, worryingly, to the rise of a new Panopticism that threatens to suppress private existence in the interest of security, financial gain and control of political power.
In this one-day international, interdisciplinary, symposium, we will ask:
- How can the law be used to strike the right balance between freedom and security in the age of the internet?
- What more can be done to make sure big technology firms respect the rule of law?
- How can government surveillance best be monitored and held to account so that law enforcement agencies retain public confidence?
- Can technology be used to promote democracy and development while respecting human rights?
Confirmed participants include:
- Prof Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Inaugural chair in Law, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Julie Ward MEP, European Internet Forum and Labour MEP for the North West Region
- Hannah Couchman, Liberty, Advocacy lead on technology and human rights
- Andreas Aktoudianakis, Open Society Foundations
- Griff Ferris, Legal and Policy Officer, Big Brother Watch
- Jedrzej Niklas, London School of Economics
- Prof Douwe Korff, London Metropolitan University
- Kilian Vieth, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, with specialism on government surveillance and intelligence oversight, digital human rights and critical security studies
- Sabrina Rau, University of Essex
- Jonathan McCully, Legal adviser to the Digital Freedom Fund and Editor of Columbia University’s Freedom of Expression Case Law Database
- Bethany Shiner, Middlesex University
- Midori Takenaka, Associate Clifford Chance
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Nov 2018 | 9:15am - 5:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
