On April 16, at the 26th meeting of European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) in Brussels, security expert Johann Čas was invited to give his view on the massive ethical and social consequences of surveillance and security technologies.
Čas made a case for separating security industry and security policy. He urged to look at issues not only from an expert’s, but also from a citizen’s point of view. He stressed that rigid surveillance strategies could never be the solution for pressing economic and social problems.
Civil safety independent from industry interests
During his talk, Čas questioned central concepts of the EU security research programme: Do we need more and more technologies to feel safe? How does security research strengthen the competitiveness of Europe’s industry? And what about synergies between military and civil security research?
It would speak for itself that the topic was now part of the EGE’s agenda: “Security and surveillance strategies are limiting a number of basic rights. They change the power balance between a nation and its people. They question the presumption of innocence and turn autonomous citizens into potential suspects.”
The EGE is a transnational ethics group which acts as a policy advisor to the EU Commission. It analyzes ethical questions on science and technology and develops recommendations for the preparation and execution of legislative and political initiatives.
Links
TA13 - ITA Conference on the topic of safety and security
TA13 Programme-News
Topic: Safety and Security
Topic: Surveillance
