A Chat with Dr. Thomas P. (Tom) Keenan: Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape; Adjunct Professor, Department of Computer Science University of Calgary; chair of Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) about privacy and cybersecurity and the social and cultural aspects of technology

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Dr. Thomas P. (Tom) Keenan.

Tom combines a deep technical knowledge with lively insights into the social and cultural aspects of technology. He was educated at Columbia University, receiving BA, M.Sc., MA and Ed.D. degrees in Philosophy, Mathematics, Engineering and Education. He is a popular professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape as well as the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Information Processing Society and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies. Tom taught Canada's first computer security course, in 1974, and was involved in drafting Canada inaugural computer crime legislation. He has been an expert witness in civil and criminal cases including a famous one involving claimed "Internet defamation" in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench. He has also testified before the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Tom became a student member of the Association for Computing Machinery in New York City in 1966, while a student at the famed Bronx High School of Science. He moved to Calgary in 1972, to join the University of Calgary, and founded the Alberta chapter of ACM in 1986.

He has served on numerous boards including the Waterloo, ON-based startup RDM Corporation which went public on the TSX as RC and was bought by U.S. financial services company Deluxe Corporation. His volunteer board service ranges from Shad International to the Calgary Police Museum Interpretive Society, the Calgary Counselling Centre, and the SEEDS Connections Foundation. A long-serving board member of the Software Human Resources Council of Canada, now the Information and Communications Technology Council, he became its Board Chair in 2018.

He has received numerous honors including Educator of the Year from Phi Delta Kappa, the NSERC Award for Science Promotion, the Queen's Jubilee Commemorative Medal, the Order of the University of Calgary, the Students Union Teaching Excellence Award, the McBain Medical Journalism Award, the Canadian Science Writers Award and the 2003 Calgary Award in the Education Category. This the highest honor presented by the City of Calgary to a citizen.

Tom is frequently quoted in the media on technology topics and writes a syndicated column for the Postmedia newspaper chain. He is a regular contributor to the CTV program Alberta Primetime as well as CBC radio and television and Talk Time with Sean and Shawna.

Tom is the author of over 1,000 academic papers, book chapters, presentations, and articles, and has spoken on five continents to academic audiences, major conferences, and the general public. His latest book, "Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy" dissects how technology is becoming creepy in hidden ways that are difficult for most people to understand. It has regularly appeared in the top ten on Amazon.ca in categories including Civil Rights and Liberties, Technology & Society, and Social Aspects of Technology. Technocreep is available on Amazon, Walmart.com and directly from the publishers in Canada, the U.S. and, as Technosinistro, in Spain/ Latin America. It is also available as an Audible audiobook, read by the author.

TO WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW, CLICK ON THIS MP4 file link