Campaigner to discuss state surveillance of individuals
Published On Wed 4 Jun 2014 by Grant Hill
A high-profile civil liberties campaigner will next week visit the University of Dundee to discuss the implications of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the extent of state surveillance into the lives of ordinary citizens.
Tony Bunyan, Director of Statewatch, an organisation that monitors state activities and civil liberties in the European Union, will give a free public lecture entitled, ‘Spying on us all: Snowden, UK-GCHQ and USA-NSA’ at the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre from 6pm on Saturday, 14th June.
Bunyan is an investigative journalist and writer specialising in justice and home affairs, civil liberties and freedom of information. He has been the Director of Statewatch since 1990 and has written several books based on his research into surveillance within EU countries. He was recently appointed Honorary Research Fellow of the University’s School of Humanities and has commented extensively on the Snowden case in the media.
He said, “My lecture will look at the Snowden revelations, why everyone should be personally concerned about the surveillance of our communications by state agencies and why we should also question how the state uses data to surveil people and groups who challenge the status quo.
“It will be argued that we have to look at the agencies who ‘gather’ the data, the security agencies who ‘use’ the data, the multinationals who ‘share’ the data and the ‘targets’ of surveillance. Only when this complete nexus is exposed will we be able to understand the real and grave threats to our democracies, freedoms and liberties that it represents.”
The event takes place as part of the Jean Monnet Summer School on the European Union's Area of Freedom, Security & Justice, which takes place from June 9th-15th and is organised with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union. The Summer School is intended for students writing, or about to start writing, their PhD thesis on the subject, and will be followed by a two-day conference on the same topic.
The University has recently launched an exciting suite of new taught postgraduate programmes which will prepare graduates to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world. The issues of international security, terrorism, sustainability and devolution all sit at the heart of an ever-globalising society and the new postgraduate courses in these areas will provide graduates with the necessary skills and knowledge to make a real difference in their chosen career path.
The MLitt in International Security and the MLitt and LLM in International Law & Security will provide an in-depth understanding of international relations and legislation pertaining to modern security issues, such as responses to terrorism, aggression and threats to environmental security.
The MLitt Devolution and Global Governance will explore the lessons of Scotland's experience of devolution and the debate on independence and how this can be applied to similar processes across the world.
‘Spying on us all: Snowden, UK-GCHQ & USA-NSA’ takes place at the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre, Tower Building, at 6pm on Saturday, 14th June.
For further information on these new courses please visit http://uod.ac.uk/newmasters.
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