got this today… (david lyon is one of the best christian thinkers on postmodern times and jesus in disneyland is a fantastic book)
LICC is delighted to announce an evening with the highly acclaimed author of Jesus in Disneyland and the classic Postmodernity – Prof DAVID LYON – on Monday, June 14th 2004, at 6.45pm.
The Government plans to introduce biometric identity cards – and a national registry for all – sooner, not later. They’re already running the tests.
ID cards – which will be able to store all your personal details, from the points on your driving licence to your credit rating and doctor’s notes – symbolise many of our fears about privacy and civil liberty in today’s high-tech culture.
But they also mark a crucial shift in how we maintain social order. In the most ‘watched’ nation on earth, are we using technology wisely, as we seek to control asylum seekers and protect our citizens from crime?
Or is this the thin end of Big Brother’s fearful wedge?
How do we start thinking about life in the surveillance society from a Christian perspective? Does it affect our humanity as we live life in front of the CCTV cameras? What does it mean to have a digital ‘profile’, and what difference does it make to our everyday lives?
David Lyon is Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and director of The Surveillance Project. He is internationally renowned for his research, writing, and teaching, which focuses on major social transformations in the contemporary world.
The cost is £6. Please try to let us know in advance if you plan to come – on 020 7399 9555 – as it helps LICC to know numbers. You are, however, welcome to turn up on the night without booking.
I work at LICC, so the chances of me being there were perhaps greater than for most people, especially since I was doing the sound and recording.
Anyway, lots of people turned up (at least 60), which suprised me a little. With a lecture description of ‘Identity, information and ethics in a surveillance society’ I thought it might not appeal to a general audience.
The evening was centered on the proposed ID card bill for the UK, which it was argued was neither about identity, nor in fact a card, but more importantly was about monitoring and managing people, and a sophisticated and integrated national database.
It was suggested that as Christians we can be involved (without being paraniod) in influencing the outcome of such bills. Key points for me were, increasing awareness of the real issues so they can be debated, (talking with friends, writing to MPs etc.) and pushing for stronger controls and safe-guards (data-protection, privacy, etc.) that will help prevent abuse of such a system.
Dr Lyons was a very engaging and accessible speaker, I was glad of the chance to hear him. I was especially impressed by by his careful and balanced use of the Bible to relate Christian principles to a contemporary cultural and social issue.