"The Concealed I" anonymity conference Mar 4-5 at Univ. of Ottawa [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I'll be moderating a debate over national ID cards. --Declan]

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http://www.anonequity.org/concealedI/

March 4-5, 2005
University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
Ottawa, Canada

What is the nature and value of privacy?
How does anonymity change our behaviour?
What are the policy issues facing Canadian privacy commissioners?
What are the constitutional implications of the compelled disclosure of 
identity?
Are implantable microchips privacy invasive or privacy enhancing?
Do we have the right to speak or sue anonymously?
What is the effect of imposing anonymity on women who enter the legal 
system as a result of sexual assault or other crimes of gendered violence?
What is racial profiling and who is doing it?
What are the most appropriate ways to resist excessive surveillance?

These are some of the questions being investigated by a 
multidisciplinary team of researchers on a project entitled On the 
Identity Trail (www.anonequity.org). The team, along with faculty 
members from the Law and Technology Program at the University of Ottawa 
(www.commonlaw.uottawa.ca/tech),invites you to a two-day conference 
dedicated to investigating these and other privacy issues in our 
increasingly networked society.

Panel discussion topics include:
# THE NATURE AND VALUE OF PRIVACY AND ANONYMITY
# PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF PRIVACY
# POLICY ISSUES FOR PRIVACY COMMISSIONERS
# DEBATE ON THE COMPELLED DISCLOSURE OF IDENTITY
# INVASIVE SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGIES
# COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
# PUBLIC SAFETY IN FREE AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
# PRIVACY ACTIVISM

The conference will begin on Day I with an introductory session 
investigating the nature and value of privacy and anonymity in an era of 
ubiquitous identification technologies. This will be followed by an 
investigation from a social science perspective on public perceptions of 
privacy and data flows. These two panels lay the ground for a very 
special policy lunch, hosted by Canada's federal and provincial privacy 
commissioners. In an unprecedented collaboration, the various 
participating privacy commissioners will present a cross-Canada 
"policy-scan", setting out the most pressing issues encountered by their 
offices and offering a range of viewpoints in response. The remainder of 
the afternoon on Day I will include a debate on compelling the 
disclosure of identity and a session on invasive identification and 
surveillance technologies.

Day II of the conference will begin with law and policy issues and will 
end with an investigation of some broader social dimensions of anonymity 
and identity. The day starts with a session investigating some of the 
crucial comparative constitutional questions, and is followed by a 
session that focuses more specifically on issues of race and gender. 
These sessions will be followed by another policy lunch featuring 
representatives of the law enforcement and security community debating 
the need for identification from the perspective of “public safety” in a 
free and democratic society. The remainder of the afternoon of Day II 
will focus on the broader public, including a session on social activism 
and the appropriateness of certain public responses to oppressive 
surveillance. We end the conference with a walking tour of the 
surveillance cameras in the Ottawa area and an artistic performance.

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