Private actors in the frontline of the war on terror, Amsterdam
| datum | 10 september 2015 17:00 |
|---|---|
| plaats | Amsterdam |
| locatie | Spui 25-27, 1012 XM  |
| organisatie | SPUI25 |
Private companies play a key role in current European counter-terrorism practices. What are the consequences of this development when it comes to effectiveness, accountability, privacy and ethics? With Wouter Baljon, Daniel Drewer, Mara Wesseling, Matthias Leese and Marieke de Goede.
European practices of counter-terrorism - including the prevention of radicalization and the use of commercial data to ‘connect the dots’ of security threats - place private companies in the frontline of security. For example, airline companies are required to filter suspicious travelers, banks and financial institutions have to report suspicious transactions relating to sanctions and terrorism financing, and social network information is mined to identify potential future suspects. These measures foster close relations between security practices and a wide array of private actors, including risk- and management consultants, software analysts, banking institutions, security corporations, and social network firms. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, these relations have only further intensified.
This public debate asks what it means for security and democracy to place private actors in the frontline of the war on terror: How do these public-private relations in security take shape? How are companies confronted with complex and conflicting regulatory demands in their new security roles? What does it mean for the legitimacy and accountability of security decisions if they are made (partly) within private companies and by private actors?
About the speakers
Wouter Baljon is director Digital Technology at Kreab, Brussels. Prior to joining Kreab, Wouter was Head of EU Affairs for SWIFT. He has led various advocacy campaigns on international data flows and digital technology legislation and organized outreach activities aimed at EU institutions and representations of EU member states and other key jurisdictions in this context. Wouter obtained his Master’s Degree in EU Policy Studies (Honours Program) from the University of Amsterdam and his Bachelor’s Degree in European Studies from the University of Maastricht.
Daniel Drewer is Head of the Data Protection Office of the European Police Office. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Hamburg (Germany). He worked as legal advisor for a media group before starting further professional training at the Hanseatic Court of Appeal. During this time he had been seconded to Eurojust, Europol and to the Data Protection Authority of the City of Hamburg. After that he became Head of the Data Protection and Confidentiality Unit with responsibility for policy and information assurance regarding the processing of law enforcement data at Europol. Since 2010 he fulfils the function of Data Protection Officer for Europol as an agency of the EU.
Mara Wesseling is Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations in Paris France. She is involved with the “HowSAFE Project” (How States Account for Failure in Europe) that explores the institutional factors shaping the application of risk-based approaches to governance. She obtained her PhD in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam with a dissertation entitled “ Governing The European Fight Against Terrorism Financing’. Mara has worked with the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in the field of the EU Justice and Home Affairs policies. She is author of the 2014 report for the European Parliament on the Evaluation on EU Measures to Combat Terrorist Financing.
Matthias Leese is a research associate within the Section Security Ethics at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and the Humanities (IZEW), University of Tuebingen. His research interests are broadly located in the fields of critical security studies, surveillance studies, and science and technology studies - lately with a focus on urban security, and questions of interoperability in transnational crisis response.
Marieke de Goede (chair) is Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, and coordinator of the NWO-Vidi research project European Security Culture. She is co-theme leader of the ‘EU and the World’ pillar of the research institute ACCESS Europe, and directs the ‘European Union in a Global Order’ MSc programme.
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