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                 ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINAL PROGRAM

                Advanced Surveillance Technologies

                   A one day public conference
                           sponsored by

                    Privacy International and
               Electronic Privacy Information Center

                        4  September 1995

                 Grand Hotel Copenhagen,  Denmark


Overview

Recent developments in information technology are leading to the
creation of surveillance societies throughout the world. Advanced
information systems offer an unprecedented ability to identify,
monitor, track and analyse a virtually limitless number of
individuals. The factors of cost, scale, size, location and distance
are becoming less significant.

The pursuit of perfect identity has created a rush to develop systems
which create an intimacy between people and technology. Advanced
biometric identification and ID card systems combine with real-time
geographic tracking to create the potential to pinpoint the location
of any individual. The use of distributed databases and data matching
programs makes such activities economically feasible on a large
scale.

Extraordinary advances have recently been made in the field of visual
surveillance. Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems can digitally
scan, record, reconfigure and identify human faces, even in very poor
light conditions. Remote sensing through advanced satellite systems
can combine with ground databases and geodemographic systems to
create mass surveillance of human activity.

Law is unlikely to offer protection against these events. The
globalisation of information systems will take data once and for all
away from the jurisdiction of national boundaries. The development of
data havens and rogue data states is allowing highly sensitive
personal information to be processed without any legal protection.

These and other developments are changing the nature and meaning of
surveillance. Law has scarcely had time to address even the most
visible of these changes. Public policy lags behind the technology by
many years. The repercussions for privacy and for numerous other
aspects of law and human rights need to be considered immediately.

Advanced Surveillance Technologies will present an overview of these
leading-edge technologies, and will assess the impact that they are
likely to have in the immediate future. Technology specialists will
discuss the nature and application of the new technologies, and the
public policy that should be developed to cope with their use.

The conference will also bring together a number of Data Protection
Commissioners and legal experts to assess the impact of the new
European data protection directive. We assess whether the new rules
will have the unintended result of creating mass surveillance of the
Internet.

The conference will be held in Copenhagen, and is timed to co-incide
with the annual international meeting of privacy and data protection
commissioners.


PROGRAM

10.00 - Introduction and Welcome

10.10  Keynotes

Simon Davies, Director General, Privacy International and Visiting
Law Fellow, University of Essex, UK,

"Fusing Flesh and Machine"

This lively introduction will provide an overview of recent trends in
technology, culture and politics that are bringing about an era of
universal surveillance. The paper concentrates on the theme of
fusion, in which data and data subjects are being brought into more
intimate contact. The creation of an informational imperative
throughout society is leading to the degradation of privacy as a
fundamental right. As a result, there are few remaining boundaries to
protect the individual from surveillance.


Steve Wright, Director, Omega Foundation, UK

'New Surveillance Technologies & Sub-state Conflict Control.

This talk will cover the role and function of new surveillance
technologies; an overview of the state of the art and some of the
consequences eg the policing revolution - with a move away from
firebrigade policing towards prophylactic or pre-emptive policing
where each stop and search is preceded by a data check. The emergence
of new definitions of subversion to justify new data gathering
activities and an increasing internal role for the intelligence
agencies now that the cold war has ended. It will show how
different surveillance and computer technologies are being integrated
and how such information and intelligence gathering is linked into
more coercive forms of public order policing when tension indicators
rise during a crisis.
 
11:15 - 11:30 Break

11.30 - 12.45  Regulation versus freedom

The European Data protection Directive will establish a common
privacy position throughout Europe.  Its intention is to safeguard
personal privacy throughout the Union, yet already there are glaring
conflicts with the freedom of information flows on the net. This
section discusses the threat of universal surveillance of the net
caused by the new laws.

Frank Koch, Rechtsanwalt, Munchen, Germany

European Data Protection : Against the Internet ?

Data Protection, according to the Common Position (CP) of the
European Union, requires control over the medium used for transfers
of personal data, the recipients of these data, and the way these
data are used. The open structure of the Internet seems to be quite
incompatible with these requirements. The member States and the
controllers within them are required to take all steps to ensure that
personal data are not transferred  into communication nets that do
not conform to the CP. This paper will discuss why personal data will
be prevented from being freely transferred throughout the internet,
and how this will affect users of the net.

Malcolm Norris, Data Protection Registrar, Isle of Mann

Enforcing privacy through surveillance?

The need for a Europe-wide privacy directive is pressing. Greater
amounts of personal data are flowing to a growing number of sites.
Yet, without care, there is a risk that such laws could have the
unintended consequence of causing widespread surveillance of
activities of net users. The fact that unprotected personal data
should not be flowing on the net might at some point provoke
authorities to routinely surveil net data. This paper discusses these
dilemmas, and suggests measures that might avoid the threat of
universal surveillance.


	      Lunch Break 12:30 - 1:45


1.45 - 3.15  Perfect surveillance

In many countries, the era of the private person is at an end.
Information surveillance, automatic visual recognition and geographic
tracking are at an advanced stage, and are set to imperil privacy.
This panel will discuss developments in surveillance, including
advanced Closed Circuit TV, satellite remote sensing, Intelligent
Vehicle Highway Systems, and forward looking infrared radar.

Phil Agre, University of California, Advanced tracking technologies

Ambitious plans for advanced transport informatics have brought
serious privacy concerns.  Computerized tracking of both industrial
and private vehicles may not be consciously intended to reproduce the
erstwhile internal passport systems of the Soviet Union and South
Africa, but deeply ingrained technical methodologies may produce the
same result nonetheless.  This presentation surveys some of the
purposes behind ongoing transport informatics programs, including
integrated logistics systems and regulatory automation. It offers a
conceptual analysis of "tracking" in technical practice. The most
serious dangers to individual liberty and civic participation can be
greatly alleviated, though, through the systematic use of digital
cash and other technologies of anonymity.  At the moment, this
prospect seems much more likely in Europe than in the United States.

Simon Davies, Privacy international,  Closed Circuit Television and
the policing of public morals

The use of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera systems has become
a key plank in the law and order strategy of the British government.
Most cities in Britain are constructing powerful, integrated CCTV
systems to surveil shopping areas, housing estates and other public
areas. Although there is some evidence that this extraordinary
strategy is having an effect on crime figures, it is also becoming
apparent that the cameras are increasingly used to enforce public
morals and public order. The use of new visual information processing
technologies is leading to numerous unintended purposes for the
cameras, including automated crowd control and automated face
recognition.

Detlef Nogala, University of Hamburg, Germany, Techno-policing

Technology has been used for many years for surveillance purposes,
and the last decades have seen a rapid proliferation of different
surveillance technologies into the civilian realm. Today there is a
whole industry which is trying to direct the momentum of military
surveillance technologies into the civilian security market. But
there is a difference between some spectacular applications (like the
gunshot-locator system derived from submarine sonar-technology) and
common applications on a mass basis (like smart cards with digitally
stored fingerprints). Among the "counterforces" like data-protection
laws, political opposition or consumer politics a deficit in
financial resources is not the least one. It is clear that most
surveillance agencies are trapped in the contradiction between
maximum performance and economy. This paper discusses the various
forces and influences that bear upon a decision to implement
particular technologies of surveillance.


3:00 - 3:15 Break

3:15 - 4:30 Solutions


This session will discuss a range of responses to the new era of
surveillance.  These include regulation, consumer action, and the
development of privacy friendly technologies.


Dave Banisar, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Washington DC

Encryption and the threat of universal surveillance of the net

Encryption is one technological solution to the problem of privacy
invasion and surveillance, yet encryption also provides an excuse for
governments to undertake surveillance of citizens. Documents recently
secured by EPIC indicate that US Law enformcent and intelligence agencies
had planned to implement a two stage strategy for its Clipper Chip 
encryption policy, resulting in non-official encryption being made 
illegal, and thus providing an opportunity for law enforcement 
authorities to engage in limitless surveillance of communications.  
This talk discusses the dilemma facing supporters of encryption.

Bruce Slane, Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand.

Some positive aspects of privacy law

In this talk, New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane presents a
number of positive aspects of legal regulation of information flows.
He describes areas where law is being successfully used to enforce
responsible information practices.


4:30- 5:00 Conclusion and Wrap-up

Number of participants :  approximately sixty

Costs:      US  $75 - Individuals/non-profit organizations
               $175 - Commercial organizations
         		
Venue : Grand Hotel, Vesterbrogade 9.
DK -1620,  Copenhagen V,  Denmark


For further Information and registration please contact :

 	Dave Banisar
	Privacy International Washington Office
	666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301
	Washington, DC 20003 USA
	1-202-544-9240 (phone)
	1-202-547-5482 (fax)
	email :  pi@privacy.org

Web address: privacy.org/pi/conference/






_________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Final Program - AST 9/4/95
_________________________________________________________________________
David Banisar (Banisar@privacy.org)     *  202-544-9240 (tel)
Privacy International Washington Office *  202-547-5482 (fax)
666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301     *  HTTP://www.privacy.org
Washington, DC 20003