The Information Policy Research Program [IPRP] is an on-going program of research examining key public policy issues, notably access, and privacy. These issues are studied particularly in relation to rapid Canadian developments in information/communications infrastructure and the 'knowledge-based economy/society' generally.
Starting in 1995, IPRP has been serving as the organizational hub for the following series of projects, each with its own research focus, team members and funders. This site documents the activities of current, live projects. For information on past projects, please visit the archive site of IPRP.
IPRP research is the work of many people, mainly faculty and graduate students at the Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto, in collaboration with academic and non-academic researchers across Canada as well abroad. For questions or comments about IPRP or any of its projects, please contact Prof. Andrew Clement.
IXmaps is an interactive tool that permits internet users to see the route(s) their data packets take across North America, with 'interesting' sites highlighted along the way.
Much is going on 'inside' the internet, but out of sight, that should concern users and policy advocates. There is an increasing rise of cyber surveillance, such as eavesdropping by the NSA and other security agencies and deep packet inspection (DPI) by ISPs/carriers; discriminatory traffic management and blockage; excessive energy consumption; and oligopolistic and anti competitive business practices. There is relatively little critical research into, or public understanding of, internet backbone structure and operation.
The IXmaps project seems to make visible to users interesting internet backbone/core phenomena related to everyday usage. In doing so, it promotes an understanding of the internet core amenable to public policy engagement. IXmaps also develops a research tool for conducting critical internet backbone investigations, and for presenting findings publicly. Lastly, the project seeks to enroll others (users, activists, researchers) in building the database of internet sites of interest.
The SurveillanceRights project observes, records and assesses the signage of video surveillance in public spaces.
Since personal information is recorded with video cameras, surveillance is subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). This legislation, along with relevant guidelines, establishes that private organizations must post prominent and detailed signs before they record or monitor us through video camera surveillance.The great majority of video surveillance installations in Toronto have no signage whatsoever, and where signage is present, it does not comply with PIPEDA. Where there was signage, for example, it was often lacking in placement, visibility and required content (such as purpose, contact information) and worded vaguely and in some cases actually misleading. We did not observe a single sign that we judged as meeting PIPEDA requirements.
Publications
Mitigating Asymmetric Visibilities: Towards a Signage Code for Surveillance Camera Networks
Andrew Clement and Joseph Ferenbok
To appear in A. Doyle, R. Lippert & D. Lyon (Eds.), Eyes Everywhere: The Global Growth of Camera Surveillance (In Press). Devon Willan Publishing.
Hidden Changes: From CCTV to "Smart" video surveillance
Andrew Clement and Joseph Ferenbok
To appear in A. Doyle, R. Lippert & D. Lyon (Eds.), Eyes Everywhere: The Global Growth of Camera Surveillance (In Press). Devon Willan Publishing.
The Proportionate Identification (Prop-ID) project examines, critiques and re-imagines the information exchange with ID cards.
Everyday transactions as commonplace as making a purchase, obtaining a service or boarding a bus increasingly demand identification. Typically we hand over far more personal information than is actually needed by organizations. What are the risks of this habit, especially in light of the rapid progress of smartphone technologies capable of serving as digital wallets?
The Prop-ID project analyzing these issues and creating viable alternatives. In line with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), organizations should be held accountable to practice safe, open and limited collections of personal information. This project helps explain the privacy issues around identification and how citizens can explore a more citizen-centric ID system.
The Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) is a research partnership established in 2003 to investigate the status and achievements of community-based information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives in Canada.
CRACIN brings together community informatics researchers, community networking practitioners and government policy specialists from across Canada to document and assess the achievements of community-based ICT initiatives in the context of, among other things, the main Canadian government programs promoting the development, public accessibility and use of internet services. Under the federal government's 'Connecting Canadians' agenda, over $400 million dollars have been invested in funding thousands of non-profit and community based organizations to help Canadians communicate electronically, both locally and globally, as well as to access informational services and resources that strengthen participation in contemporary economic and social life.
The Digitally Mediated Surveillance project explores the everyday cyber-surveillance.
Questions concerning digitally mediated surveillance (cyber-surveillance) have tended to be debated in an episodic manner according to the latest controversies concerning the particular practices of governments and online companies. It is now over ten years since the advent of the World Wide Web, and of widespread use of the internet for electronic commerce, electronic government and social networking. The impending emergence of the 'internet of things' promises (or threatens) to further insinuate digital surveillance capabilities into the fabric of daily life. Media alarmists have fuelled a general popular understanding that one's life is an open book when one goes online, making one increasingly subject to unwelcome intrusions. The reality is more complex and contingent on a variety of technological, institutional, legal and cultural factors.
This project is a research generation and dissemination hub for scholarly work about digitally mediated surveillance research. It is associated with the New Transparency Project, a multidisciplinary research project that explore how surveillance is experienced as an everyday reality. This reality is brought about through growing computer dependence and reliance on personal data collection and processing by a variety of institutions, and often manifest through heightened public concern about security. The key project members associated with this website — Colin J. Bennett, Andrew Clement, Kate Milberry, and Christopher Parsons — are exploring the digital aspects of contemporary transparencies.
The Canadian ID Forum facilitate informed discussion of contemporary Canadian identity document and management issues by researchers at the Faculty of Information.
Canadian governments and businesses are actively developing new forms of identification documents, especially as they endeavour to meet the US State Department's requirements for passports and other travel documents. New technologies, such as facial recognition, biometrics, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, among others, are increasingly promoted as a means of securing and assuring people's identity.
However, developing and using these new identity technologies raise many complex policy issues. To better inform public discussion, this project provides accessible backgrounds to biometrics, ID systems, and the policies that underlie Canada's policy and decision-making