[liberationtech] Online Security & Civil Rights Workshop

[Yosem Companys]

From: Mariariosaria Taddeo <mariarosariataddeo at gmail.com>

Online insecurity is like a Hydra with many heads - from e-commerce
and online banking scams to malware, from hacking to cyberwar. It
requires Herculean efforts to slay the Hydra, but, unfortunately,
fighting insecurity may easily cause serious ethical problems, since
security measures can also undermine civil rights, such as individual
liberty, privacy, and freedom of speech and expression, because such
measures often rest on the collection, storage, access, or elaboration
of individuals’ personal information. Clearly, any democratic
government, fair society and responsible organisation need to identify
an ethical balance between online security and civil rights, in order
to implement the former successfully while respecting and furthering
the latter. At the same time, it is also clear that the problem is
growing and becoming increasingly pressing. Nowadays, when the US and
several EU countries are debating which rights should be protected on
the Internet and how extended online security measures should be,
ethical guidelines for the management of cyber security are urgently
sought. Following the organization of the international workshop on
Online Security and Civil Rights: A Fine Ethical Balance
(http://www.informationethics.net/CRCSworkshop/Home.html), to be held
on October 26-27, 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire with the
support of the University of Hertfordshire, the UNESCO Chair in
Information and Computer Ethics, and Google’s Public Policy
Department.

TITLES & ABSTRACTS of the workshop papers can be found following this link:
http://www.informationethics.net/CRCSworkshop/Speakers,_Titles_&_Abstracts.html

--
Dr. Mariarosaria Taddeo
Visiting Lecturer - University of Hertfordshire
Senior Research Associate - Information Ethics Group (IEG), University of Oxford
Research Associate - Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
http://taddeo.philosophyofinformation.net/index.html