SURPRISE results on European public’s attitudes towards security-oriented surveillance technologies

Ploughing through the SURPRISE results on European public’s attitudes towards security-oriented surveillance technologies provides much food for thought.

The study identifies a list of criteria for what makes security-oriented surveillance technologies acceptable:

a) operate under an international legislative framework, monitored by a data protection authority with sufficient powers at the European level;

b) are operated by transparent, accountable public agencies that inform citizens about their purposes and functions;

c) are cost-effective and allow citizens to access and control the data they retrieve and store;

d) always target the least sensitive data, only in public spaces, whenever possible and be specifically orientated towards suspects and criminal activities;

e) are deployed only after significant evidences have been collected and only after judicial authorities grant permission;

f) incorporate Privacy-by-Design mechanisms and principles;

g) do not replace but complement human intervention, as part of a broader, socially informed, security strategy that addresses also the social and economic causes of crime and violence.

So - how many of these criteria do Snowden's revelations violate?

See: Pavone, V., Esposti, S.D.  and Santiago, E. (2015). D 2.4 – Key factors affecting public acceptance and acceptability of SOSTs. Surprise. Surveillance, Privacy and Security: A large scale participatory assessment of criteria and factors determining acceptability and acceptance of security technologies in Europe. Retrieved from http://surprise-project.eu/