15 November, 2006 - 11:23am

Queen's University published a fascinating study yesterday, on the effects of surveillance by governments, employers, and the private sector via technologies such as personal computers, biometrics, and GPS. The largest international survey of its kind, they found a high level of concern in many parts of the world about the intrusiveness of post 9/11 laws. The issues covered include: control over personal data, consumer surveillance, national ID cards, workplace privacy, knowledge of privacy regulations, and public trust in government.

Findings for Canada and the US were in general quite similar. Sixty-six percent of Canadians and 60% of Americans worry about providing personal information on websites. Less than one-third of Canadians and Americans believe they have a complete or a lot of say in what happens to their personal information. Almost 50% of North Americans were unsure who should be in charge of personal data colleted about them by companies while surfing the web. Just over half of Americans and 41% of Canadians believe they are knowledgeable about laws to protect their information held by private companies. Only half of North Americans believe those laws are effective.

Conducted under the auspices of The Surveillance Project at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, the social science researchers examine the ways in which personal data are processed. They believe surveillance raises important issues such as privacy, anonymity, and trust. Lead researcher Dr. Elia Zureik stated of the findings, "We have learned that there is an urgent need to educate the public about the complexities of the information age, to demand organization and governmental accountability with regard to handling personal data, and to develop an appropriate theory to explain and predict flows of personal data and to connect this with privacy ethics and government policy."