Privacy and Citizenship

Introduction

The topic of privacy was raised during many of the discussions during FIA Valencia. These were in terms of multi-disciplinary actions required involving stakeholders ranging from technologists, legislation and societal stakeholders. It is quite clear that the time has come where the citizens are paying special attention to how their personal data is used (and mis-used) on the Internet. Therefore, the time is right for the research community to ensure the citizen’s requirements are factored into their developments by default.

Terms of Reference

Whilst being mindful of any ongoing development of relevant legal directives on personal data protection and privacy, the session during FIA Ghent will address the relationships between the involved technologies and the relevant stakeholders (citizens) to ensure that privacy is addressed as fundamental to the Future Internet as an aspect of maintaining the digital rights, dignity and sovereignty of the citizen. The session would address two main topics with their related sub-topics.

Topic 1: User/Citizen issues related to privacyThe current trends on R&D work has been on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, Privacy by Design, Privacy by Default, and Privacy and Sharing [1], [2], [3], [4]. What does this all mean to the actual citizens?

• users accessing and controlling of data – putting users (citizens) in control of their information; What needs to be done to provide automation and/or reduction in complexity involved in providing appropriate ‘control’ options?
• others accessing users’ data – ensuring that ‘privacy-relevant’ information cannot be interfered with (networks and addresses, packet inspection, etc.) legitimate / non-legitimate access, etc.
• protecting users’ personal and application data from falling into the wrong hands via digital dustbins; related topics would include provisioning of trusted garbage collection, policing intrusions into digital dustbins, erasure of our unwitting digital trails;
• how do we empower citizens to feel confident in their communications on the Future Internet and to exercise choice over their own information [2].

Topic 2: Economics of PrivacyDoes privacy policy stifle innovation in the Internet economy? This is a subject that has been launched by the US Department of Commerce [5]; how do we develop trustworthy ICT to avoid conflicts between security and privacy and innovation in order to make it a positive-sum game?

• how do we abstract these concepts and their inter-relations in a digital world to make them more understandable in order to reinforce the legal framework required?
• how do we achieve widespread and practical, active and informed consent (opt-in) for the citizens: how do ensure that we get this right with the vast amount of personal information being processed. This is an ultra critical topic for raising confidence and trust for citizens using e-health, e-government, … services.

References

[1] Privacy and Identity Management for Europe in Life Project www.primelife.eu

[2] RISEPTIS Report, Trust in the Information Society, October 2009. www.think-trust.eu/riseptis.html

[3] Conference on Trust in the Info Society, 10-11 February 2010, León, Spain. https://trustworthyict.inteco.es/

[4] Kenneally, E E, and K Claffy. “An Internet Data Sharing Framework for Balancing Privacy and Utility.” In Proceedings of Engaging Data: First International Forum on the Application and Management of Personal Electronic Information. 2009.

[5] www.commerce.gov/news/secretary-speeches/2010/05/07/remarks-privacy-and-innovation-symposium

Session Format

There will be one elongated session with two dedicated topics throughout, namely User/Citizen issues related to privacy and economics of privacy. There will be three headline speakers (15’ each) and two expert panellists per topic. A session chair and moderator will moderate discussion with keynotes and expert panellists on the main topics and the audience after the keynotes are concluded.

Privacy and Citizenship – Agenda

Contact

Jim Clarke, Nick Wainwright, Volkmar Lotz, Michel Riguidel