State of the art in ethical, human rights and societal impact assessment

This deliverable reviews the state-of-the-art in methods for conducting impact assessments (IAs) in the security area. We give particular attention to methods for assessing the impact of security technologies on ethics, human rights (including privacy and data protection), as well as social and economic well-being. With respect to the security area, we give particular attention to four domains – cybersecurity, disaster resilience, fighting crime and terrorism, and border management. Following introductions and explanation of methodology, chapter 3 conveys an overview of key doctrines that could be seen as underlying the decision to conduct IAs, especially in the security technologies’ area. Then, chapter 4 deconstructs and analyses the building blocks of an impact assessment exercise, applicable to each sub-type of an IA. This leads to the core part of the deliverable – chapter 5 – divided on key impact assessment subcategories; for each subcategory, a description is provided, together with a breakdown of leading and relevant impact assessment frameworks. Chapter 6 moves on to provide an analysis of factors and challenges that might appear when conducting IAs within each of the four indicated domains of security. Chapter 7 enhances the report with description and analysis of findings from two surveys conducted by the TRANSCEND project, aimed at discovering the use of IAs among the security industry and local authorities. Chapter 8 puts forward conclusions and recommendations, centred around the need to provide accessible information about the landscape of impact assessment methodologies to all interested stakeholders.