VB2019 paper: The push from fiction for increased surveillance, and its impact on privacy

Levels of anxiety over technology and interconnectedness are growing. People are becoming increasingly concerned about privacy, and wary that every gadget or app might be spying on them. But researchers Miriam Cihodariu (

Heimdal Security

) and Andrei Bogdan Brad (

Code4Romania

) wondered how much impact the misrepresentation of surveillance technology in fiction (films and TV) was having on people’s perceptions.

In a paper presented at VB2019 in London the researchers looked at how surveillance is represented in fiction and how these representations are shaping people’s attitudes to surveillance in current legal debates.

Today we publish their paper in both

HTML

and

PDF

format, as well as the recording of Miriam presenting the paper in London.