Surveillance and the Information Society

Session 1

Chair: Professor Michael Clarke, Director of the Royal United Services Institute.

Speaker: Christopher Graham, The Information Commissioner:
Surveillance and the Information Society – The Major Challenges.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has played a vital role in fostering awareness amongst politicians, the media and the public of the threats posed by the Surveillance Society. This session will identify some of the key issues that society faces in dealing with the spread of surveillance and information technology.

Two years after the Thomas-Walport Report and one year after the Lords Select Committee Report, Surveillance: Citizens and the State, how well has the Government done in addressing the concerns raised by these reports. How can the process of addressing these challenging issues be pushed forward?

Session 2

Chair: Professor Patrick Birkinshaw, University of Hull

Speaker: Professor John Fitzpatrick OBE, Kent Law School:
The DNA Database.
The first part of the session will consider the legal and political shortcomings of the current regime and the best way to regulate the system so as to give effect to the proper limits on the retention of DNA data.

AND

Eric Metcalfe: Human Rights Policy Director, Justice:
Privacy, Surveillance Collection and CCTV
The second part of this session will examine the growth of database collection and profiling and the legal regime surrounding the use of CCTV cameras.
 

Session 3

Chair: Sir David Omand GCB

Speaker: Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC, Security Minister:
The needs of the Security Services and the proper limits on power.

This session will reflect on the dangers posed by state power in the hands of the security services and consider what mechanisms can be adopted to draw the line between necessary powers and those that cannot be justified by necessity. Who can oversee effectively the growth of surveillance powers in the secret sphere be it by state bodies or private security organisations?

Session 4

Chair: Lord King of Bridgewater CH 

Speaker: Sebastian Payne, Barrister and Lecturer in Law, Kent Law School:
The network of oversight bodies.

The first part of the session will examine the web of oversight bodies that exists to oversee surveillance, data collection and the work of the security services. The speaker will explore the extent whether the web makes a coherent whole and whether the bodies are able to deliver on oversight.

Sam Lincoln, Chief Surveillance Inspector, Office of the Surveillance Commissioners: Surveillance Commissioners – A Case Study.

The second part of the session will delve into the work of the Surveillance Commissioners.
 

Session 5

Chair: Professor Dawn Oliver FBA

Speaker: Baroness Neville-Jones DCMG, Shadow Security Minister:
Individual Freedom and the State

This session will debate how individual freedom and liberty can be secured by reforming the current system. The speaker will give her views on what should be on the agenda for reform.