Surveillance and Public Gatherings in the EU

Public gatherings such as festivals, protests, sporting events and public celebrations are increasingly shaped by surveillance, data collection and multi-actor security arrangements. This book examines how these practices can contribute to safety and security while remaining proportionate, transparent, rights-respecting and attentive to their economic and social costs.

Drawing on the Gatherings project, the book combines surveillance studies, legal analysis, and empirical research across several European contexts. It explores how technologies, stakeholders, and data flows converge around public events, shaping the distribution of authority, visibility, and responsibility. The book also examines the legal and ethical frameworks governing surveillance, the economic and social costs of security measures, and the unequal ways in which surveillance may be experienced across different groups.

The book moves from theory to practice through case studies from the Gatherings Living Labs and a set of practical outputs: the Security-Privacy-Cost Evaluation Matrix, the Common Standards for privacy-friendly and cost-efficient surveillance, and awareness-raising programmes for professionals and citizens. It concludes with recommendations on awareness, professional capacity and public-facing communication, offering a framework for more accountable, context-sensitive and socially responsive surveillance governance at public gatherings. Rather than proposing a single model, it asks which measures are justified, for whom and why.

This book will be of interest to scholars of criminology, sociology and surveillance studies, as well as policymakers, security professionals and event organisers concerned with balancing public safety with privacy rights.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 International license.