Julian Kinderlerer, president of the European Union's Group on Ethics in New Technologies, has been advocating citizens' right to privacy for many years. Together with Ben Hayes from British civil liberties gropu Statewatch he will be keynote speaker at the final conference of three EU projects SurPRISE, PRISMS and PACT on November 13 and 14 in Vienna. All three projects explored citizens' attitude towards increasing surveillance and application of technology.

Recent revelations of mass surveillance programmes clearly demonstrate the ever-increasing capabilities of surveillance technologies. The lack of serious reactions to these activities shows that the political will to implement them appears to be an unbroken trend. The resulting move into a surveillance society is, however, contested for many reasons. Are the resulting infringements of privacy and other human rights compatible with democratic societies? Is security necessarily depending on surveillance? Are there alternative ways to frame security? Do surveillance technologies address the most pressing security needs, and if yes, are they the most efficient means to do so? Is it possible to gain in security by giving up civil liberties, or is it even necessary to do so? Do citizens adopt this trade-off and, if yes, are they willing to enter into this trade?

The three FP 7 projects have addressed these and related questions, putting the perspective of European citizens in the very centre of the research focus. Major aims are to better understand the relation between surveillance, security and privacy, to inform policymaking and to support decision making with the gained insights. The revelation of practically unlimited surveillance activities of the NSA by Snowden, the rejection of the Data Retention Directive by the European Court of Justice or the recently adopted Opinion on Ethics of Security and Surveillance Technologies by the European Group on Ethics (EGE) are unambiguous signals that such decisions are urgently needed.

International Conference:Citizens’ Perspectives on Surveillance, Security and Privacy: Controversies, Alternatives and Solutions
13.-14. November 2014
Austrian Academy of Sciences
1010 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
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