David Lyon FRSC FAcSS (born 1948) is a sociologist who directed the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Jesus in Disneyland (2000) investigated the ways in which religious activities are affected by the so-called postmodern turn, and the co-edited (with Marguerite Van Die) Rethinking Church, State and Modernity: Canada between Europe and America (2000) examined the question from the perspective of political sociology.

During the 1980s Lyon examined how new technologies are involved in social change and offered a balanced assessment in books such as The Information Society: Issues and Illusions (1988).

In a short book on Postmodernity (1994) he suggested that currently fashionable theoretical debates had to be understood in relation to social changes, especially the development of new media and the cultural prominence of consumerism.

Identifying Citizens: ID Cards as Surveillance (2009) picked up on themes explored by Lyon since the late 1980s but also relating to more recent technical and political developments.

While educational, legal, technical and other approaches are vital, he insists that it is also crucial both to confront the agents of surveillance and to consider current developments in terms of emerging political subjects, the common good and human flourishing.

James M. Harding, in particular, has questioned whether this stance ultimately functions as an apology for abusive and corrupt surveillance practices by casting them as being in need of reform rather than eradication.