RISE (Rising pan-European and International Awareness on Biometrics and Security Ethics) is a 36 month EU funded project which aims at setting up an international initiative to monitor ethical and policy issues raised by biometrics and security technologies. RISE aims to deepen, extend to Asian actors and ensure the continuity of European and international dialogue already initiated by the two linked projects BITE (www.biteproject.org) and HIDE (www.hideproject.eu), and by the two previous conferences on ethics and biometrics organized by the EC Research Directorate General and the US Directorate of Homeland Security Privacy Office respectively in 2005 and 2006.
The RISE project will involve key European and international actors in an ongoing, policy-related, non-official, dialogue on privacy and ethics of biometrics and security technologies
Policy Context
Security is an area where ethics and fundamental values have been hardly considered relevant. The nature of security has led to arguments about a particular need for secrecy and efficiency of decisions, which by many is considered difficult to reconcile with the requirements for democratic accountability and respect for ethical principles.
Following the new political landscape created by the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union, the EU is now on the verge of a multifaceted reform of its decision-making rules for security, which may have deep ethical and political implications. The assumption that security policies, as well as international agreements relevant to them, have to be consistent with EU values demands a paradigm shift.
Europe's strategy stresses that the nature and uncertainty of new threats, their pathways and potential effects requires a global approach, which involves not only transatlantic actors but also other continental players. Asia encompasses nearly 60% of the world's population and 60% of world trade.
The dialogue on ethics and biometrics already instigated by two previous projects, BITE (www.biteproject.org) and HIDE (www.hideproject.org), and by the two international conferences organized by the European Commission DG Research (1st International Conference, Brussels, December 2005) and the US Department of Homeland Security Privacy Office (2nd International Conference, Washington DC, November 2006) should then continue and extend to Asia.
To this end, the European Commission has decided to support the development of an international dialogue platform devoted to the ethics of biometrics and security technologies.
The RISE project (Rising pan-European and International Awareness on Biometrics and Security Ethics) has been officially launched in March 2009 within the scope of the Seventh Framework Programme (7FP), Science in Society, with the aim of setting up such a platform and convening the third world conference on ethics and biometrics in China (4-5 January 2010). The Chinese conference will be prepared by an international meeting convened in Delhi (24-25 September 2009).
Description of target users and groups
RISE aims to involve key European and international actors in an ongoing, policy-related, non-official, dialogue. RISE's strategy is based on the involvement of the wider community of stakeholders and a careful design of its meetings and workshops. A pluralist environment is the most suited to stimulate thinking out of the box and searching for innovative, win-win, solutions, avoiding "specialists" entering into a vicious circle, and allowing participants to reframe issues.
All meetings and conference planned for the RISE project are a form of coordination, as they involve interaction with and among different actors, institutions, networks, policy makers, individual scholars around some well focused scientific and policy issues.
Within its meetings and conferences, the project is involving EC services, which have been launching work programmes relevant to RISE and, in particular: DG Research, DG Justice, Liberty and Security, DG Enterprise (Security), DG Health, DG Environment. DG RELEX. DG Information Society and Media. RISE will also ask appropriate EC services to act as liaison points for networking with relevant EC funded projects. RISE is also involving European advisory groups, working parties, and agencies. It will encourage their participation as relevant stakeholders and to comment on RISE deliverables.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
The RISE project will be carried out by a Consortium of 10 partners located in 9 countries, including the US, China and India.
The RISE Consortium fits perfectly with the project and mobilises the critical mass of resources necessary for success. The consortium is a unique combination between European and non European partners, most of them have been already involved in the previous international conferences on ethics of biometrics. Nine partners represent in total 6 EU (of which 1 new member state) and 3 non EU countries (USA, INDIA, CHINA). They are 3 universities (Lancaster, Tartu, Thessaloniki), 2 private research centres (C-PET, CSSC), Â 2 multi-stakeholder associations (EBF, DSCI), 1 public research institution (BRC) and 1 consultancy (GSI).
The coordinating centre and most partners are well experienced in EC funded projects. Among previous EC funded projects initiated by RISE partners they are the most successful and valuable projects on ethics of emerging technologies funded in FP5 and 6.
Efficient Project Management is of prime importance in such a complex project and great emphasis has thus been placed on ensuring an optimal organisation, management and decision making structure of the project. The general management is held by the project coordinator, who is in charge of the overall management of the project, and the correct execution of the contract towards the EC.
The project will be controlled by the Project Management Board, which is composed of the project coordinator, who chairs the board, and delegates from all participating organizations. The management board meets yearly in conjunction with RISE conferences in order to avoid extra travel costs.
The progress of the Project will be closely monitored by checking the successful completion of the well-defined tasks into which the objectives are divided against a schedule of dates agreed by the partners. Partners are encouraged to report and share difficulties as they arise.
Lessons learnt
RISE's mission is to create an internationally recognized ethical framework to be used while planning and managing security policies, notably biometrics, and to set up a biennial regular event, through the creation of an international permanent group on these issues.
RISE aims to become the catalyst for successful dialogue and for innovative policy solutions.
Of course differences in perception and policies are not expected to evaporate, and the evolution of the security landscape is not finished yet. RISE's impact will develop progressively, by creating an ongoing trusted environment where all actors may meet and converse freely
Scope: International, Pan-European