Introduction to the Special Issue: Questioning Modern Surveillance Technologies: Ethical and Legal Challenges of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies

Security issues have always been and will always be high on the public policy agenda. Similarly, new technologies, particularly surveillance technologies, are developed and deployed to tackle security problems. Persistent, conventionally perceived security threats such as organised crime, terrorism and public safety, are complemented by new concerns, such as the social and individual effects of technological solutions to manage the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic or challenges to democratic processes posed by the use of social media. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) often appear to offer simple, technologically based solutions to multidimensional problems relating to the safeguarding of societies, people and nations. This impression is sustained both by the activities of commercial interests, who would like to see the ongoing procurement of security and surveillance technologies, and by the stance of policy-makers, who have to deal seriously with security problems but who also search for symbolic policies and tools as a way of demonstrating proactivity against crime, terrorism and radicalisation. Conversely, technological progress can also be seen as a factor reinforcing existing securitisation trends; emerging security concerns and technical capabilities mutually fortify each other.