Managing Privacy Through Accountability

Surveillance technologies form an increasingly ubiquitous presence in many EU member states. CCTV cameras, traffic regulation systems, ID cards, biometric developments, airport security checks and on-line forms of dataveillance are just some of the many ways in which the public are subject to forms of scrutiny, data collection, data storage and data sharing. These surveillance systems are often welcomed as a means of protection and for easing public fears, but also raise profound questions for democratic states of the nature of the relationship between state and citizenry. Currently, regulation of surveillance systems differs across EU member states, including legal prohibitions, forms of licensing, self-certification, data protection and information or data protection commissioners. Forms of accountability have emerged as one means by which the potential consequences of surveillance systems might be recognized and assessed and formally incorporated into public sector policy or into the ways in which companies do business. Managing Privacy through Accountability draws together contributions from leading figures in the field of surveillance to engage in discussion of the emergence of accountability as a central motif in debates around privacy invasion and privacy protection. It is the first book to engage in this debate.

DANIEL NEYLAND is a Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University, UK. His research interests cover issues of governance, accountability and ethics in forms of science, technology and organization. He has been involved in various funded research initiatives and currently works on several EU framework 7 projects. He has published widely, including a book entitled Privacy, Surveillance and Public Trust (2006) and an edited collection on New Directions in Surveillance and Privacy (2009).

LEON HEMPEL is a senior researcher at the Centre for Technology and Society at the Technical University Berlin, Germany, since 1999. His research areas are sociology of technology and innovation, security studies and evaluation methodology. Leon co-ordinated the EU funded project URBANEYE on the use and societal impacts of CCTV within public accessible space and currently leads EU projects PATS (Privacy Awareness through Security Organisation Branding) and SIAM (Security Impact Assessment Measure).

INGA KROENER is a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University, UK. Her research interests lie in the area of contemporary history of CCTV and public engagement in the UK, the history of modern science and technology, the sociology of science and public dimensions of science and technology. She currently works on two EU Framework 7 projects.

HECTOR POSTIGO is Associate Professor of Digital Media in the Department of Broadcasting Telecommunications and Mass Media (BTMM) at Temple University, USA. His research engages with computer hacking and security in social movements and activism. Recently, he has been asked by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, CA. (the premier U.S social movement organization working on consumer digital privacy rights) to study its use and rhetorical construction of 'privacy' and other digital rights during its lobbying campaigns.

CARLA ILTEN is a junior researcher at the Technical University Berlin, Germany, currently working on the EU FP7 PATS project. She is now working on a PhD thesis on activism for social change and new media after conducting field research as a Visiting Scholar at Temple University.

DANIEL GUAGNIN is a junior researcher at the Technical University Berlin, Germany. He is currently working on the FP7 Project PATS on Privacy Awareness. Alongside privacy and surveillance, his research interests include the free content movement and the social implications of technologies.