Balancing Privacy and Protection: Ethical Challenges in Cyber Surveillance for Public Safety

Abstract

The growth of digital surveillance tools to address what is an ever changing set of public safety issues has brought forth acute ethical and legal questions. As states put in place greater surveillance measures in response to terror, cyber crime and pandemics the balance between national security requirements and individual privacy has tipped. This paper looks at the ethical issues presented by cyber surveillance which is put forward in the name of public protection. We draw from literature in the fields of cyber security, data ethics and legal studies to look at the basic principles of privacy, proportionality and accountability in surveillance policy. Also we do a comparative study of surveillance structures in the U.S., E.U. and China which present different regulatory approaches and what that means for civil liberties. The paper puts forth a rights based model for governance of cyber surveillance which includes transparency, democratic oversight, and ethical impact assessment. We put forth that it is possible to protect public safety without at the same time violating fundamental rights and we call for integrated policy solutions which at the same time achieve security goals and meet constitutional and human rights responsibilities.