Balancing Security and Privacy in an Open Society

This lecture will reflect on how Jefferson's ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ might be rendered in the modern world as ‘security, freedom and well-being’. Here in Britain it is right for us to debate how we can maintain privacy and freedom both from the state and within the state. It is right for us to question the steps we take lest the example we offer be turned against us by those we preach to on liberty, privacy and the maintenance of security without oppression. The same tension is evident in the growing problem of e-crime, demonstrated by recent Cabinet Office research estimating it to result in a £27billion hit on individuals, businesses and government in terms of identity fraud and cyber scams. Both the individual and democratic organs of government have an obligation to join together in protecting the rights of all of us to privacy.