Description: Local surveillance assemblages can be broken down into three constitutive and interrelated parts: technologies used, stakeholders involved and the data transfer between them (Balzacq 2008). This project uses the notion of the 'surveillant assemblage' proposed by Haggerty & Ericson (2000) and inspired by Deleuze & Guattari (1988) as the starting point to provide a better understanding of how surveillance technologies are governed and deployed. By looking at the governance and practice of these types of surveillance as assemblages, surveillance dynamics, power relations and unintended consequences become known that would otherwise have remained in the dark (van Brakel, 2018). Moreover, by approaching surveillance technologies as an assemblage, it is possible to go beyond the traditional understanding of surveillance as an exclusive relationship between the surveillance authority and a certain subject of surveillance (Martin et al 2009). In this way, it becomes clear how other actors, including technology, also possess agency and shape organizational, political, ethical and/or social outcomes and consequences (van Brakel, 2018; Melgaço and van Brakel, 2021). Whilst individual security actors may engage in surveillance practices, and collect personal data of citizens as a result, collaboration between multiple (public and private) actors brings about a much more complicated picture with regard to privacy, public security and safety, and data transfer and transparency. The GATHERINGS project addresses the complexity of such surveillant assemblages in the context of public gatherings, that is, in the context of people getting together in public spaces, during planned (commercial or non-commercial) events (such as music festivals, Christmas markets, farmer markets, street parties, religious celebrations), as well as public protests, and during spontaneous assemblies, such as impromptu public parties or celebrations after a sporting event.
The first overarching purpose of the GATHERINGS project consists of three ambitions:
· To improve the efficacy of surveillance in order to render public gatherings safer
· To increase the fairness and transparency of surveillance by making it more privacy-friendly
· To boost the feasibility of surveillance for involved stakeholders by making it more cost-effective, both economically and socially
The second overarching purpose is to identify gaps in terms of awareness among professionals and citizens, and bring about international harmonisation of good practices and common standards with regard to the privacy- friendly, socially sensitive, cost-effective surveillance of safer public gatherings. Against this background, the specific objectives of the GATHERINGS project can be defined in terms of the following objectives:
1) To understand the competing needs and interests of different stakeholders in relation to large-scale surveillance of public gatherings;
2) To raise awareness among citizens about different forms of surveillance in public spaces and about applicable rights;
3) To strengthen the protection of public spaces while reducing the need for continuous and expensive data collection and storage;
4) To foster a proportionate and justified use of surveillance systems and collected personal data;
5) To encourage cross-boarder exchange of good practices in relation to the surveillance of public spaces among Police Authorities in EU Member States.
Coordinator: VUB
Promotors: Lucas Melgaço & Mattias De Backer
Researchers: Rosamunde Van Brakel, Julie Caluwaerts, Lior Volinz, Bram Visser
Partners: Trilateral Research Limited (Ireland), Hochschule für den Offentlichen Dienst in Bayern (Germany), Vienna Centre for Societal Security (Austria), Bundesministerium furs Inneres (Austria), European Institute Foundation (Bulgaria), Glavna Direktsia Natsionalna Politsia (Bulgaria), Kentro Meleton Asfaleias (Greece), Hellenic Police (Greece) and LOBA (Portugal)
Funding: Horizon Europe
Duration: October 2023 – September 2026
Website: TBD