The Privacy Games?

Researchers Philip J. Boyle and Kevin D. Haggerty have recently published a report on surveillance and privacy at the 2010 Winter Olympics for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. They examine the political economy of security technologies, the history of surveillance at mega events, and the potential for enduring surveillance infrastructures following the games. If recent Olympic events are any indication, surveillance technologies will persist, proliferate and piggy-back their way permanently into Vancouver's urban environment.

"The possibility that CCTV cameras installed specifically for the Olympics will remain in place after the Games are over has been raised a number of times in the Canadian media and by civil rights observers in the Vancouver area. Recent Olympics suggest that this is a distinct possibility; approximately 400 of the 1,500 ‘temporary’ CCTV cameras used during the 2004 Athens Games were retained afterwards over and above the proliferation of cameras implemented elsewhere under the broader rubric of Olympics security at locations such as the new airport, public transportation hubs, and public highways. Our discussion with one security official involved in the 2006 Turin Games confirmed that similar CCTV retention occurred at the conclusion of those Games." - Boyle & Haggerty, 2009

Boyle, P.J. and Haggerty, K.D. (2009 March) Privacy Games: The Vancouver Olympics, Privacy and Surveillance. Report prepared for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Under the Contributions Program. Available http://www.surveillanceproject.org/files/Privacy%20Games.pdf