Ottawa Citizen Series on Surveillance and Privacy

The Ottawa Citizen newspaper has been running an in-depth series called Under Surveillance that examines the potential legal, social and cultural impacts of the use of technologies that allow for tracking citizens.

The content:

• Part I: A very different world
  David Lyon is studying the ceiling in a Westboro coffee shop, searching for hidden cameras. A leading figure in the fast-growing field of surveillance studies, the Queen’s University sociologist is only too aware of the many ways we’re all being watched.
• Part II: Devil in the details
  Last summer, the Laurentian Bank rejected a loan application for an all-terrain vehicle from a resident of the Kitigan Zibi First Nation, an Algonquin community near Maniwaki. The man had an impeccable credit history. The problem was where he lived.
• Part III: Social networking or social spying?
• Like most young Canadians, Dan Trottier is on Facebook. With 140 million active members worldwide —more than 10 million in Canada alone — Facebook and other social networking sites are how friends today stay connected.
• Part IV: Keeping tabs goes high-tech
  It looks like any other teddy bear. But the cuddly toy conceals a surprising secret. Hidden in its right eye is a tiny wireless pinhole camera, designed to capture damning images of dishonest or abusive nannies.
• Part V: You’ve been targeted
  How would you feel if online ads, pitching deals on products and services aimed directly at your interests, popped up automatically whenever you surfed the Internet?
• Surveillance-related Web sites