Abstract
While the UN introduced the paradigm of ‘human security’ in the 1990s, the post 9/11-legislation has returned to the paradigm of national security, in the name of ‘homeland’ security. The paper explores the ramifications of this reorientation in view of new and emerging security and surveillance technologies. It argues that a culture of surveillance has emerged that contradicts the vision and values of the human security concept. Regarding the intersection of political and private security and surveillance technologies, the ubiquity and entanglement of surveillance technologies with everyday life goes far beyond the purpose of security. Therefore, the paper argues for a reorientation that is backed by moral and political theory, and a (new) social contract that is based on the concept of social freedom, deliberative democracy, and a human rights-oriented concept of justice.
Highlights
In this paper, I will analyze the recent shift or rather, re-turn in the conceptualization of security, namely from human security as a means to the end of human flourishing, to the new notion of Homeland security under the new conditions of a post 9/11 era
The indiscriminate surveillance, for example in the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras used in public spaces, monitoring all movements, and the social sorting embedded in the use of the data gathered, creates a tension between security and personal insecurity: the individuals who are recognized as belonging to the ‘we’ may feel secure when they are monitored in the UK, for example, almost 5 million CCTV cameras are used, equated one camera for every 14 people but citizens are constantly at risk of losing exactly this social status, especially when the criteria for the ‘othering’ are not made transparent
I cannot pursue the history of the relation of freedom/ liberty and security here [17], we must note that both ideas of human rights and democracy have transformed, among other things, the social contract
Summary
I will analyze the recent shift or rather, re-turn in the conceptualization of security, namely from human security as a means to the end of human flourishing, to the new notion of Homeland security under the new conditions of a post 9/11 era. My reflections stem in part from my work in the ethics committee of the European Commission on ethics in science and new technologies, which, after a year of consultations, hearings and discussions, issued a report on ‘The Ethics of Security and Surveillance Technologies’ in May 2014 [1] My lecture, takes a step back from this report in order to reflect on the specific ethical questions we need to ask from the perspective of a moral philosophy that is rooted in the Christian theological and ethical tradition
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