CV

(Download .pdf here)

Christopher Parsons

Department of Political Science, University of Victoria

PERSONAL INFORMATION

  • Citizenship: Canadian
  • Email Address: (Removed for SPAM reasons, please see .pdf version or use my website’s ‘contact me’ page
  • Homepage: http://www.christopher-parsons.com

EDUCATION

  • University of Victoria, 2008 – Present (in progress). PhD in Political Science. Dissertation: What’s Driving Deep Packet Inspection? Motivations, Regulations, and Public Involvement in Telecommunications Regulatory Processes. Advisor: Dr. Colin Bennett.
  • University of Guelph, 2006 – 2007. Master’s Program in Philosophy. Thesis: Technology, Communication, and Western Pluralistic Democracies: Realigning Privacy to Facilitate Citizen-Solidarity. Advisor: Dr. Omid Payrow Shabani.
  • University of Guelph, 2001 – 2006. Bachelor of Arts Honours (2006). Thesis: Sovereignty and Solidarity: Exploring the Citizen-Sovereign Relationship in Kant and Habermas. Advisor: Dr. Omid Payrow Shabani.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Social, ethical, and political dimensions of networking technologies used by telecommunications providers
  • Social media, Web 2.0, and their links with communicative privacy
  • Surveillance, privacy, and digital theory
  • Habermasian critical theory
  • Institutional standards-setting
  • Comparative politics

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • Principle researcher and author for the Lawful Access Regime Project, Micheal Vonn (Policy Director, BCCLA), 2011.
  • Research Assistant for Deep-Packet Inspection: Resources for the Analysis of Privacy Implications in Canada, Colin Bennett (University of Victoria) supervising. Grant money funded through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s contributions program, 2009-2010.
  • Research Assistant for The New Transparency Project, Colin Bennett (University of Victoria) and Andrew Clement (University of Toronto) supervising. Large seven-year SSHRC MCRI, 2008-2009.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • Invited Lecturer, “The International, the State, and the Lulz,” University of Victoria, November 2011.
  • Invited Lecturer, “Technology and Politics in Tunisia and Iran: Deep Packet Surveillance,” University of Victoria, February 2011.
  • Invited Lecturer, “Managing Your Online Transparency: Privacy on the Social Web,” Camosun College, March 2010.
  • Invited Lecturer, “The Technology Threatening Culture and Privacy (or: the acronym your ISP doesn’t want you to know),” University of Victoria, March 2010.
  • Teaching Assistant, Introductory Social and Political Philosophy (with Prof. Omid Payrow Shabani). Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Fall 2007.
  • Teaching Assistant, Ethics (with Prof. Alan Belk). Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Spring 2007.
  • Teaching Assistant, Introductory Social and Political Philosophy (with Prof. Eva Buccioni). Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Fall 2006.

PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

  • Parsons, Christopher. (Forthcoming). “ We Are Big Brother: Is social media surveillance a threat to our sense of community” in J. Greenburg and C. D. Elliott (Eds.), Communications in Question (Second Edition).
  • Bennett, Colin, and Parsons, Christopher. (Forthcoming). “Privacy and Surveillance: The Multi-Disciplinary Literature on the Capture, Use, and Disclosure of Personal information in Cyberspace” in W. Dutton (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). “Is Your ISP Snooping On You?”, in M. Moll and L. R. Shade (Eds.), The Internet Tree: The State of Telecom Policy in Canada 3.0.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Ly, Alexander; Anderson, Steve; Sinnott, Shea. (2011). “The Open Internet: Open for Business and Economic Growth” in S. Anderson and R. Yeo (Eds.). Casting An Open Net: A Leading-Edge Approach to Canada’s Digital Future.
  • Israel, Tamir; Faassen, Mark; Parsons, Christopher; Cusack McDonald, Jacqueline. (2011). “The Technical Case for Openness” in S. Anderson and R. Yeo (Eds.). Casting and Open Net: A Leading-Edge Approach to Canada’s Digital Future.

PRESENTATIONS

Academic Presentations

  • McPhail, Brenda; Parsons, Christopher; Ferenbok, Joseph; Smith, Karen; and Clement, Andrew. (2011). “Identifying Canadians at the Border: The 9/11 Legacy.” The Expanding Surveillance Net: Ten Years after 9/11, Kingston, Ontario, September 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). “Technology and Politics in Tunisia and Iran: Deep Packet Surveillance.” Digital Inflections: Visions of the Posthuman Future, Victoria, BC, March 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2010). “Deep Packet Inspection: Privacy, Mash-ups, and Dignities.” COUNTER: Counterfeiting and Privacy Research Conference, Manchester, UK, March 2010.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2009). “The Ontological Crisis of Melancholia: Searching for Foundations in the Ether of Cyberspace.” (inter)disciplinarities: theory and crisis Graduate Conference, Victoria, Canada, March 2009.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2007). “New Online Teaching Tools for TAs: Web 2.0 possibilities and pitfalls.” University of Guelph Teaching Assistant Conference, Guelph, Canada, September 2007.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2007). “The Besieged Nation-State and the Internet: Managing digital networks and realizing their political potential.” University of Guelph Master’s Student Seminar Conference, Guelph, Canada, April 2007.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2005). “Care: A Model for Ethical Behaviour.” University of Guelph Undergraduate Society Conference, Guelph, Canada, October 2005.

Public Presentations

  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Lawful Access: Stepping towards a harmonized surveillance complex,” (Un)Lawful Access Legislation: Ottawa Forum, Ottawa, ON, February 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Lawful Access: Technical Potentials and Observations from the US and UK,” (Un)Lawful Access: Premier and Panel Discussion, Vancouver, BC, January 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). ”Lawful Access, Transmission Data, and Lessons from Abroad,” Stop Online Surveillance Forum, Vancouver, BC, July 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). “Watch Out! It’s the Feds!” Social Media Club Victoria, Victoria, BC, April 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). “An Internet Broadband Monitor, and You.” Lightening Talk Session at CanSecWest, Vancouver, BC, March 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2010). “ISP Surveillance and Deep Packet Inspection.” Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Colombia, Victoria, BC, November 2010.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2010). “Putting the Meaningful into Meaningful Consent.” Social Media Club Vancouver, Vancouver, BC, October 2010.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2010). “Traffic Analysis, Privacy, and Social Media.” Social Media Camp Victoria, Victoria BC, October 2010.

INVITED WORKSHOPS

  • “Transparent Practices Don’t Stop Prejudicial Surveillance.” Networked Surveillance: Access Control, Transparency, Power, and Circumvention in the 21st Century, Toronto, Canada, February 2012.
  • “Social Media: Is there a place for it in education?” Learning Systems/Learning and Teaching Center Instructional Technologies Series workshop, Victoria, Canada, November 2011.
  • “Mobility: Value Propositions, Lawful Access, and Communicative Privacy.” Citizen Lab Roundtable, Toronto, Canada, June 2011.
  • “The Evolving Role of Cyber Surveillance in Public Sector Decision-Making.” Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic Roundtable, Ottawa, Canada, June 2011.
  • “Deep Packet Inspection: Heuristics, Transparency, and the Canadian Situation.” Deep Packet Inspection Roundtable, Toronto, Canada, June 2009.
  • “Moving Online: Your Packets, Your ISP, Your Identity.” Critical Digital Studies Workshop, Victoria, Canada, June 2010.

AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS

  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, 2009-2012
  • Private Scholarship, The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit, 2009
  • Conference Travel Grant, University of Victoria Office of Graduate Studies, 2009.
  • Conference Travel Grant, Critical Digital Studies Workshop, 2009.
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (Provincial-level award), 2008-2009 (declined to accept).
  • Forster Medal (University-level award), College of Arts Nominee, 2008.

SERVICE

  • Workshop Organizer, “Networked Surveillance: Access Control, Transparency, Power, and Circumvention in the 21st Century,” iSchool 2012 workshop, University of Toronto, February 2012.
  • Administrator for, and contributor to, Digitally Mediated Surveillance Canada (www.digitallymediatedsurveillance.ca), 2011 – Present.
  • Technical Consultant for Peninsula: A Journal of Relational Politics. University of Victoria graduate student journal, 2010 – Present.
  • Administrator of Deep Packet Inspection Canada (www.deeppacketinspection.ca), 2010 – Present.
  • Workshop Organizer, “Cyber-surveillance in Everyday Life,” Multidisciplinary workshop, University of Toronto, May 2011.
  • Principle Conference Organizer, “Identity and Its Roots,” Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference, University of Guelph, May 2008.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Computer Lab Technician, University of Guelph, College of Social and Applied Human Science, 2008.
  • Networking Assistant, University of Guelph, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, 2007-2008.
  • Copyeditor, Dr. Omid A. Payrow Shabani, May 2008.
  • Senior Computer Lab Assistant, University of Guelph, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, 2006 – 2007
  • Copyeditor, Dr. Omid A. Payrow Shabani, October 2007

Texts Edited

  • James Tully. 2007. ‘The Practice of Law-Making and the Problem of Difference: An Introduction to the Field’, in Omid Payrow Shabani (ed.), Multiculturalism and Law. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
  • Jürgen Habermas. 2007. ‘The Kantian Project of the Constitutionalization of International Law: Does it Still have a Chance?’, in Omid Payrow Shabani (ed.), Multiculturalism and Law, Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
  • Omid Payrow Shabani. ‘Post-Secular thinking about the Role of Religion in Democratic Politics’, Summer 2008.

MEMBERSHIPS/RESIDENCIES/SEMINARS/ACCREDITATIONS

Memberships

  • American Political Science Association, 2008 – Present
  • International Association of Privacy Professionals, 2007 – Present
  • Canadian Philosophical Association, 2006 – 2009

Residencies

  • Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, May 2011

Seminars

  • Surveillance Studies Summer Seminar, Queen’s University, May 2009

Accreditations

  • College of Arts Teaching Practicum: Level I (University of Guelph), 2007

MEDIA COVERAGE

National Post (Online and Print), CBC News, CBC: The National (and CBC television affiliates); CBC News: Science and Technology; CBC: All Points West; Citytv Breakfast Television, TVO’s Search Engine, Ars Technica, Slashdot, Focus Magazine, DSL/Broadband Reports, SC Magazine, CircleID, Vancouver Sun, Techvibes, The Wire Report, Boing Boing, Owni, L’Express, University Affairs, and various other local and provincial radio and print outlets.

Updated February 4, 2012.

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