The Department of Sociology and Legal Studies is pleased to co-host Adam Molnar from Deakin University, Australia. In addition to his CrySP Privacy Series talk, Professor Molnar is giving this two-hour hands-on methods workshop that is open to all - faculty, students, and staff.
About the workshop
The private security market is a notoriously opaque object of study. Secrecy and limitations on access often constrain scholarly investigation into the details and practices associated with the commodification of ‘security’. Drawing upon an existing study into the use of consumer spyware technologies (commonly referred to as ‘stalkerware’), this workshop provides hands-on experience of ‘off-the-shelf’ digital marketing platforms, and explores how these platforms can be re-purposed as a useful means to facilitate critical scholarly inquiry.
Participants should come prepared with a particular organization or sector of the private security market in mind, which they can operationalize. Researchers with projects that fall outside the area of private security are also encouraged to attend and explore the applicability and value of this methodological approach for their own research project.
If you would like to try out the software used during the workshop, you can sign up for a 7-day trial for $7 USD. If you download it, please bring your laptop to the workshop (noting that others will download it in advance as well). Other resources will be provided for workshop participants.
About Professor Adam Molnar
Adam Molnar is a Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University where he is a member of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation and the Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation. Professor Molnar completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Queen's University Surveillance Studies Centre (Canada), and his PhD at the University of Victoria (Canada). He has published numerous academic articles at the intersection of technology and socio-legal studies with a particular focus on surveillance and privacy. Much of this work involves analyses of developments in policing and security intelligence across Australian and Canadian jurisdictions. He is also currently Vice-Chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation.
Questions about the workshop? Contact Professor Janice Aurini or Professor Kate Henne.
This is the first workshop in our 2018-2019 Transnational Talks series, a new Department of Sociology and Legal Studies initiative supported by Waterloo International, which aims to foster international collaboration and enhance methods training and exposure among faculty and students.