From tracking protesters to “controlling” migration, law enforcement authorities across the world increasingly employ sophisticated technologies to do their work. Experiments with data and algorithms purportedly aim to predict crime and assist the criminal justice decision-making system. While facial recognition technologies have attracted public attention and resistance, it is only the tip of the surveillance iceberg. The assumption is that these systems are beneficial because crime fighting becomes more efficient. This quest for efficiency and innovation fuels the never-ending expansion of police databases as supporting infrastructures for those data-hungry technologies. However, despite being pictured as benign tools, impacts on people’s lives, rights and freedoms is unprecedented, especially for those who already suffer from hyper-surveillance and over-policing like marginalised communities. This panel gathers representatives from civil society to analyse the intersection of the deployment of new technologies, intensified surveillance and social justice with the intention of elaborating paths of action.

• What does the deployment of new surveillance and policing technologies look like in Europe? What is the role of the EU in these developments?
• How does the use of new technologies interconnect with the ever-growing collection of personal data and the criminalisation of certain communities?
• How does theses systems pose a danger to people’s rights and freedoms, esp. of marginalised communities?
• How can we encourage civil society, activists and relevant institutions to adopt a comprehensive approach to these issues and work at their intersection?