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“fight against terrorism”. “Promoting and protecting fundamental rights” was seen as a
top priority by 24%; and “Quality of Justice” by 21%. Many people seem to trust their
government and the EU more than their fellow citizens. This is also reflected in the latest
General Eurobarometer survey held in autumn 2006. In this survey, 75% of respondents
favour a common European Security and Defence Policy; 85% believe criminals must be
punished more severely; and 64% want more equality and justice than individual
freedom (European Commission, 2006).
Still, crime and terrorism are not the biggest concerns for European citizens. According to
the General Eurobarometer survey held in autumn 2005 (European Commission, 2005),
unemployment (44%) and the economic situation (26%) are the most important
problems respondent’s countries were facing, followed by crime (24%). Terrorism (14%)
ranked seventh out of ten.
Public perception of problems and threats seems to be relatively unstable and related to
actual incidents. According to an earlier Eurobarometer survey (European Commission,
2002), over 80% of respondents feared international terrorism, about 78% feared
organized crime, about 76% proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and about
75% nuclear accidents. This was just after the attack on the World Trade Centre in New
York.
In these polls, no technical or non-technical questions were asked about solutions to the
main problems. There is a pressing need for balanced information to the public before
any conclusions can be drawn on whether they would accept security technologies or
measures.
European public awareness and opinions of different technologies including
nanotechnology have been investigated in other Eurobarometer surveys. Public
awareness of nanotechnology is gradually developing. According to the latest
Eurobarometer study on Biotechnology, held in 2005, 42% of respondents did not know
if nanotechnology would have positive or negative impacts on their lives. 40% thought it
would have a positive effect, 13% expected no change, and 5% believed nanotechnology
would lead to a deterioration in their quality of life. However, only 44% said they had
heard of nanotechnology before participating in the Eurobarometer survey.
Nanotechnology is considered morally acceptable, useful and not risky, and most
respondents believe it should be encouraged. A total of 55% of respondents support
nanotechnology, including both people who knew about it before and those who heard
about nanotechnology for the first time (European Commission, 2006).
Other studies on the public perception of nanotechnology indicate that health, safety and
environment risks of engineered nanomaterials appear to be the main concern for
societal groups. The public debate focuses on occupational safety and applications of
nanoparticles in cosmetics, washing machines and food.
Other NGO’s are worried about privacy aspects of ambient intelligence; focusing mainly
on RFID chips, cameras, internet, and data collection and storage technologies. The
Consumentenbond (Dutch Consumers Union) and Meldpunt Misbruik Identificatieplicht
(clearinghouse for abuse of identification legislation) attended the seminar of RFID and
tracing organised by ECP.NL, Rathenau Institute and RFID platform Nederland on 4 April
2007. The latter NGO especially, is very concerned about the privacy implications of RFID
and other security technologies and measures. The NGO European Digital Rights (EDRI)
is an association of 25 European privacy and civil rights organisations, which campaigns
for civil rights in the Information Society. 30 Amnesty International has a campaign on the
Internet and Human Rights, fighting censorship and human rights violations by
governments aided by Internet providers. 31 So far, none of them has published a
statement on nanotechnology as such, although RFID chips and other security
30 http://www.edri.org/
31 http://irrepressible.info/
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