At the European Semi-Final of the GSC in Munich last week, we heard a fascinating speech from Christiane Bernard, from the Enterprise & Industry Directorate of the European Commission.
Mrs Bernard stressed the importance of the human factor in the interaction of technology, organisation and humans in security. Below is a summary of her important speech in her own words:
"Security technologies and policies accompanying them, raise many different ethical and legal concerns amongst the European citizens. The strength of these concerns directly influences public support and acceptance of both government policies and the security technologies themselves.
Many of the adopted new security measures for example in counter-terrorism are associated with the potential loss of privacy or infringement of liberty. Furthermore, the use of certain security technologies raises different ethical and legal concerns, many of which may relate to the invasion to privacy, reliability, social exclusion, feared damage to humans and environment and public regulation problems.
In a European context, divergent ethical, religious, historical and philosophical backgrounds can lead to a variety of approaches on ethical and legal questions. In research projects dealing with sensitive issues where ethics and justice meet security all relevant actors (lawyers, industry, data protection officers) must work together to achieve a fair and effective balance.
Therefore, the human factor is at the heart of Europe’s Security Research. In addition, specific actions are undertaken to provide insight and advice for security policy makers." (by Christiane Bernard, European Commission)
1 comment:
It is a very relevant statement.I have been doing research in this field over the last several years. My approach is that The enabling link between security technology (hard and soft) and the human factor is "security culture." Look me up on GOOGLE search for more details.
Igor Khripunov
University of Georgia, USA
Post a Comment