CV

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Christopher Parsons

Department of Political Science, University of Victoria

PERSONAL INFORMATION

EDUCATION

  • University of Victoria, 2008 – Present (in progress). PhD in Political Science. Dissertation: The Politics of Deep Packet Inspection: What Drives Contemporary Western Internet Service Provider Surveillance Practices. 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

  • Co-Investigator with Dr. Colin Bennett (University of Victoria) on Social Networking and Privacy Protection: Analyzing the “Access” in Lawful Access. Grant money provided through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner or Canada’s contributions program, 2012-2013.
  • Co-Researcher with Kate Milberry for “A National ID Card by Stealth? The BC Services Card,” Micheal Vonn (Policy Director, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association), 2012-13.
  • Co-Researcher with Adam Molnar for ‘The BC Services Card: Drivers, Architectures, and Risks’, Kate Milberry (Researcher, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association), 2012.
  • Principle researcher and author for the Lawful Access Regime Project, Micheal Vonn (Policy Director, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association), 2011.
  • Research Assistant for Deep-Packet Inspection: Resources for the Analysis of Privacy Implications in Canada, Colin Bennett (University of Victoria) supervising. Grant money provided 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, “Networks of Power II – Cybersurveillance, Netwar, and Resistance,” University of Alberta (Graduate Class), May 2013.
  • Invited Lecturer, “Privacy, Surveillance, and Contemporary Digital Communications,” University of Victoria, October 2012.
  • Sessional Instructor, POLI 456: Politics of the Internet, University of Victoria, June-August 2012. [Course Syllabus PDF]
  • Invited Lecturer, ” Unpacking Kant’s “On the Common Saying: ‘This May be True in Theory, but it does not Apply in Practice,” University of Victoria, June 2012.
  • Invited Lecturer, “Networks of Power II – Cybercrime/surveillance/war,” University of Alberta (Graduate Class), May 2012.
  • 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

  • Bennett, Colin; Parsons, Christopher; Molnar, Adam. (Forthcoming). “Forgetting, Non-Forgetting and Quasi-Forgetting in Social Networking: Canadian Policy and Corporate Practice,” in Communications, Privacy, and Data Protection 2013 Proceedings.
  • Bennett, Colin; Parsons, Christopher; Molnar, Adam. (Forthcoming). “Real and Substantial Connections: Enforcing Canadian Privacy Laws Against American Social Networking Companies,” in Journal of Law, Information & Science.
  • McPhail, Brenda; Parsons, Christopher; Ferenbok, Joseph; Smith, Karen; and Clement, Andrew. (2013). “Identifying Canadians at the Border: ePassports and the 9/11 legacy,” in Canadian Journal of Law and Society.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Savirimuthu, Joseph; Wipond, Rob; McArthur, Kevin. (2012). “ANPR: Code and Rhetorics of Compliance,” in European Journal of Law and Technology 3(3).
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Unpacking the Potential Costs of Bill C-30,” in Canadian Privacy Law Review 9(6).
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2010). “Digital Inflections: Post-Literacy and the Age of Imagination,” in CTheory.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2010). “Moving Across the Internet: Code-Bodies, Code-Corpses, and Network Architecture,” in Code Drift, special issue of CTheory.

Book Chapters

  • Bennett, Colin, and Parsons, Christopher. (2013). “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. (2013). “Sex, Lies, and Digital Memory: How Social Surveillance Threatens Communities” in J. Greenberg and C. D. Elliott (Eds.),  Communication in Question: Competing Perspectives on Controversial Issues in Communication Studies (Second Edition).
  • 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 an Open Net: A Leading-Edge Approach to Canada’s Digital Future.

Reports

  • Milberry, Kate; and Parsons, Christopher. (2013). “A National ID Card by Stealth? The BC Services Card” for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.
  • Parsons, Christopher; and Molnar, Adam. (2013). “The BC Services Card: Drivers, Architectures, and Risks” for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Lawful Access and Data Preservation/Retention: Present Practices, Ongoing Harm, and Future Canadian Policies” for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

Submissions to Government

PRESENTATIONS

Academic Presentations

  • Irvine, Valerie; Parsons, Christopher; Bailey, Aaron; Richards, Luke. (2013). “How BC Privacy Law on Social Networking is Shackling 21st Century Education and Proposed Path Forward,” The Canadian Society for the Study of Education Annual Conference, Victoria, BC, June 2013.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Bennett, Colin; Molnar, Adam. (2013). “Inconsistency in Accessing Information from Social Networking Services,” Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Ottawa, ON, May 2013.
  • Bennett, Colin; Parsons, Christopher; and Molnar, Adam. (2013). “Real and Substantial Connections: Enforcing Canadian Privacy Laws against American Social Networking Companies,” Online Privacy: Consenting to your Future, Malta, March 2013.
  • Bennett, Colin; Parsons, Christopher; and Molnar, Adam. (2013). “Forgetting, Non-Forgetting and Quasi-Forgetting in Social Networking: Canadian Policy and Corporate Practice,” 6th International Conference of Computers, Privacy & Data Protection, Brussels, Belgium, January 2013.
  • Bennett, Colin; Molnar, Adam; and Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Forgetting, Non-Forgetting and Quasi-Forgetting: Canadian Policy and Corporate Practice,” JSPS Conference, Tokyo, Japan, November 2012.
  • Bennett, Colin; Molnar, Adam; and Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Social Networking and Canadian Jurisdiction: With which Privacy Laws do Social Networking Services think they need to comply,” Asian Privacy Law Scholars Conference, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan, November 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Savirimuthu, Joseph; Wipond, Rob; and McArthur, Rob. (2012). “ANPR: Code and Rhetorics of Compliance,” Surveilling Surveillance, Florence, Italy, September 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Lawful Access – Obligations, Costs, and Threats,” 2012 BCNET HPCS, Vancouver, BC, May 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Wipond, Rob; and McArthur, Kevin. (2012). “The Governance of Automatic License Plate Recognition in Canada,” 13th Annual Privacy and Security Conference, Victoria, BC, February 2012.
  • 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. (2013). “Panel: Privacy and Cybersecurity Considerations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),” Google Big Tent Canada 2013, Ottawa, ON, May 2013.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Bennett, Colin; Molnar, Adam. (2013). “Inconsistency in Accessing Information from Social Networking Services,” Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Ottawa, ON, May 2013.
  • Parsons, Christopher; Molnar, Adam. (2012). “The BC Services Card: Potentials, Challenges, and Risks,” Office of the Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia, Victoria, BC, November 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Lawful Access, Intelligence Legislation, and Foreign Experiences,” University of Victoria Law Club: (Un)Lawful Access – A Panel on Online Surveillance, Victoria, BC, March 2012.
  • 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.

WORKSHOPS AND ROUNDTABLES

  • Parsons, Christopher; Molnar, Adam. (2013). “Watching You: Some implications of surveillance-by-UAVs,” Canadian Political Science Association Congress. Victoria, BC, June 2013.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2013). “The BC Services Card: A Privacy and Security Overview,” The BC Services Card: Privacy Risks, Opportunities and Alternatives. Vancouver, BC, April 2013.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2013). “Lawful Access is Dead; Long Live Lawful Intercept!” Center for Global Studies Global Talks. Victoria, BC, March 2013.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “(Facilitator) Training activists about state surveillance capabilities,” Electronic Surveillance and Human Rights Camp. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, December 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Deep Packet Inspection: What is it, how does it work, and how is it used for surveillance,” Electronic Surveillance and Human Rights Camp. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, December 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Respondent: Internet Governance as a Multi-Actor and Multi-Network Issue,” Global Governance and the Internet: Is ‘Organized Chaos’ Best?, Victoria, BC, November 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Borders, Privacy, and Web 2.0,” Governance and Democracy Across Borders, Victoria, BC, October 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2012). “Transparent Practices Don’t Stop Prejudicial Surveillance.” Networked Surveillance: Access Control, Transparency, Power, and Circumvention in the 21st Century, Toronto, Canada, February 2012.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). “Social Media: Is there a place for it in education?” Learning Systems/Learning and Teaching Center Instructional Technologies Series workshop, Victoria, Canada, November 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). ”Mobility: Value Propositions, Lawful Access, and Communicative Privacy.” Citizen Lab Roundtable, Toronto, Canada, June 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2011). “The Evolving Role of Cyber Surveillance in Public Sector Decision-Making.” Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic Roundtable, Ottawa, Canada, June 2011.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2009). “Deep Packet Inspection: Heuristics, Transparency, and the Canadian Situation.” Deep Packet Inspection Roundtable, Toronto, Canada, June 2009.
  • Parsons, Christopher. (2009). “Moving Online: Your Packets, Your ISP, Your Identity.” Critical Digital Studies Workshop, Victoria, Canada, June 2009.

AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS

  • Centre for Global Studies Graduate Student Fellowship, Centre for Global Studies, January 2013-August 2013.
  • 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 – 2012.
  • 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

  • Privacy-by-Design Ambassador, 2012 – Present
  • 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: Technology and Science; CBC: All Points West; CBC Ottawa Morning; CBC Day Six; CBC: Inside Politics; CBC News: Canada; CBC News: British Columbia; CBC News: Business; CBC News: Politics, CTV: Power Play; CTV News: Edmonton, Calgary Herald, Times Columnist, Metro News, iPolitics, The Province, Citytv Breakfast Television, PC Advisor (UK), Daily Nation (Kenya), TVO’s Search Engine, Ars Technica, Slashdot, Focus Magazine, MSN News, 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 June 3, 2012.

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