Dr Bernard Keenan

Bio:

Bernard Keenan is a lecturer in law. He joined UCL in 2024 from Birkbeck. His research is concerned with the regulation of digital technology and private platforms, with a particular focus on human rights implications. He has researched the development of the legal system following the Snowden revelations of mass government surveillance, and in 2025 is publishing a book on the media history of the power to intercept communication in Britain. He is currently researching the emergence of algorithmic modes of governance of the public sphere under the rubric of online safety. 

Representative publications: 

Keenan, B. Interception: State Surveillance from Postal Systems to Global Networks (MIT Press 2025) (27 May). https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552578/interception/

Keenan, B. Profilicity and Online Safety Legislation. Journal of Law and Society 51, 367–389 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12492

Keenan, B. Regulating Communicative Risk: Online Harms and Subjective Rights. Law Critique 35, 213–236 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-023-09353-6