Participate to a conference on public spaces and surveillance at Usquare on April 25, 2024.

The session will be held in French and Dutch.

Explore the challenges of surveillance in the age of mass data collection. This event, organized by FARI – AI for the Common Good Institute – Brussels in collaboration with Brussels Academy, will examine the tension between the promise of freedom associated with urban space and the threats to our individual liberties posed by the rise of massive data collection and AI for surveillance systems.

Echoing the ideas of author Max Weber, for whom the city represents a place of emancipation and freedom, the contemporary debate highlights a fundamental dilemma. While the city has traditionally been seen as a stage for diversity, creativity and individual expression, modern surveillance devices challenge this perception. Their expansion raises essential questions about privacy, freedom of movement and state surveillance. Indeed, the growing implications of new surveillance technologies in the implementation of security policies raises important ethical and societal questions, which will be presented and debated during this session.

The debate will gather three researchers and specialists: Rosamunde Van Brakel, postdoctoral researcher at Fundamental Rights Centre and Crime and at Society Research Group (VUB), Corentin Debailleul, doctoral student in human geography at the Maison des Sciences Humaines (ULB), and Violette de Neef, data protection delegate at the City of Brussels.