The aim of this informal conference was to bring together people from all walks of life who wanted to share their experiences, ideas and concerns about surveillance. The conference was organised around small group discussions to help people meet each other and exchange ideas.

Topics Database matching, hidden cameras, spy agencies, private investigators, telephone tapping, identification numbers, vehicle tracking, workplace monitoring, electronic mail security, dossiers, voice recognition, investigating agencies, direct marketing, credit referencing ... and others.

Experiences People who had experiences of surveillance were especially invited to attend and tell others.

Analysis Why does surveillance occur? Who benefits and who loses? Who has the power to implement it? Who can say no? What are the alternatives? Who should be watching whom -- and how?

Responses What can and should be done about surveillance?

The conference
The conference was held on Sunday 26 November 1995 at the University of Wollongong, 10am-5pm. Those attending were asked in advance about their special interests. Each person was able to attend several small group meetings on specific topics, each chaired by an experienced facilitator. There were also special demonstrations. Ample time was provided between sessions for informal get-togethers.

Conference papers
Participants were welcome to -- but certainly not obliged to -- submit a short article or comment which was included in the conference papers, and circulated beforehand to those attending. The maximum length was 1500 words or 2 A4 pages. These conference papers are also posted electronically on this web page.

Conference organisers

• Ann Aungles, Sociology Department

• Stan Aungles, Science and Technology Studies Department

• Richard Joseph, Information and Communication Technology Department

• Brian Martin, Science and Technology Studies Department, phone 4221 3763 work, 4228 7860 home, email b.martin@uow.edu.au

• Graham Sewell, Management Department

All addresses are University of Wollongong, NSW 2522.
Fax: 4221 5341