Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 185Conclusions: Remarks on the Perfectibility of TechnologyIt is important not to perceive technology as a panacea for social troubles. It is alsoimportant to understand that there is no perfectibility of technology: technology can beimproved, but the notion of achieving perfection is at best misguided, at worstdangerous. Technology may be scientific, but once outside of the laboratory, it involvesengineering. A great deal of engineering is about making the best decisions with theavailable limitations. It is thus important to remember that we are still able to, and must,make decisions about what are the appropriate technologies to implement.We conclude this section with a statement from one of the world’s leading experts ontechnology and privacy, the Italian Privacy Commissioner, Stefano Rodota. In a speechin which he warns against ‘technological anasthesia’, he argues that:“The public is overrating biometrics by thinking that technologicaldevelopment will go hand in hand with hi-tech protection againstterrorism. [He concedes that a rejection of biometrics] “would beunthinkable, as in many cases it can help to make people’s liveseasier. What should be avoided is encouraging unjustified use of thiskind of technology, which should only be used when a person needs tobe identified at all cost. Furthermore, we need to ensure that allpersonal data be dealt with accurately and not made public. We alsoneed to enforce all rules aiming at safeguarding personal privacy.Research has proven that the advantage of having centralizeddatabases is questionable, as these are difficult to manage. And if acriminal organization manages to access them, they turn from safetytools into potentially criminal tools. Therefore evaluations must bemade on the basis of each single case. The value of democracy mustbe a priority. We cannot afford to resort to controlling citizens astotalitarian regimes did. In the end, they lost their battle againstdemocracy.” 461Technology can not be perfected so expectations must be kept in check. Theseexpectations should then inform future decisions. Nothing about technology isinevitable, and this is a fact that merely empowers us to make decisions.It is not just so simple as to say that the technology will one day improve. The factorsthat go into this consideration are numerous and complex. The balancing act regardingsuch technology involves hundreds of factors including user perceptions, lighting,facilities-spacing, training of staff, age of devices, age of users, race, abilities to enrolcompared to abilities to verify, the acceptable rate of error in contrast to the acceptablerigour. We must consider all of these factors as we decide what kind of infrastructurewe would like to build, and what kind of society we are constructing.461 ‘Privacy watchdog warns against ‘technological anesthesia’’, AGI, April 28, 2005.