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Technology Convergence
Cutting edge developments in nano- and bio-tech have created new opportunities for surveillance operations. Technology converge is the key evolution of future surveillance. The ability to detect covertly not only individuals but also their “intentions” is a dramatic breakthrough that has the potential to overturn any standard approach to crime and terrorism prevention. Yet its potentiality for misuse is huge. This poses a basic ethical and political question about the legitimacy to develop such a technology: “Measures against terrorism should not and need not reduce standards of protection of fundamental rights which characterise democratic societies. A key element of the fight against terrorism involves ensuring that we preserve the fundamental values which are the basis of our emocratic societies and the very values that those advocating the use of violence seek to destroy”.

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System Interoperability
The most accepted definition of “Interoperability” is the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. Interoperability is an essential component of security systems and surveillance programmes. This is more evident in certain fields such as border crossing. Border security is a priority with most of the world’s governments. The increase of interoperability, and the proliferation of public and private databases, are generating an increasing demand to pool data from diverse technologies (e.g. RFID, biometrics, GPS, smart ID cards, etc) and from diverse applications and systems (signals intelligence, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, electronic patient records, DNA databases, etc). This raises concerns for many reasons, not the least because sophisticated ‘data-mining’ techniques enable discovery of unknown and non-obvious relationships within sets of information. Privacy advocates all around the world warn against risks entailed by interoperability. At the same time, interoperability is an effective way to fight terrorism and crime. Interoperability may also protect privacy by “ensuring that personal data processing complies with applicable laws” and provided that “Data minimisation and purpose specification should be built into data analysis systems (as “a priori” conditions for integrating information)”.

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Last post by VictorLee
Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:10 pm
Embedded Technologies
Embedded technologies are technologies encapsulated by the device they control. The difficulty in distinguishing technology elements is a key factor to being classified as embedded. There are some potentially significant applications of embedded technology for security, crime prevention and antiterrorism. This is a reason for serious ethical concern. According to EU Data Protection Directive (art.7 par.1) no data collection can go unnoticed of the subject that is being monitored. The goal is that the individual is aware of all types of data about him/her that are collected. Yet this is exactly what embedded technologies prevent. There is loophole to escape from this legal dilemma, because art.7 par.2 states that par.1 is not applied in case of “processing of data relating to offences, criminal convictions or security measures”. Yet is it legitimate to extend the concept of “security measures” to any technology used in any context? The growing proliferation of embedded technologies, the emergence of an “Internet of things”, cannot be conceptualised as the never-ending growing of an indistinct “security area”.

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Privacy Enhancing Technologies
A market for counter-surveillance is emerging, offering a vast array of methods to protect individual information, whether by blocking, distorting, deceiving or destroying the surveillance means. Another counter-surveillance strategy is also emerging, the use of surveillance technology to control controllers. Finally, technological solutions – the so-called privacy-enhancing technologies, or PETs – have been advocated for limiting data collection, providing anonymity, and otherwise mitigating the surveillance potential of technology itself. Hardware protection is widely utilised and accepted to provide an enhanced level of security in many systems. A similar approach is employed to protect privacy. In essence, by utilising specific hardware components, certain rules could be built into the system. These rules would represent specific privacy policies and rules for system operation. Under such a system, there would be no way that a software designer could bypass the privacy policies. PETs are an expanding field of great political and scientific interest and the European Commission has made PETs a priority and has set the following objectives: 1) supporting the development of PETs; 2) supporting the use of available PETs by data controllers; and 3) encouraging consumers to use PETs, also by promoting a EU-wide system of privacy seals. Are PETs the best possible answer to technology surveillance? Could PETs pose in their turn new ethical and policy issues?

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Last post by gelanyi
Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:52 am

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