The steady stream of revelations arising from the disclosures made by Edward Snowden have been deeply concerning for many around the world. The complete absence of any transparency has been unprecedented. In response, Dr. Cavoukian and Professor Khaled El Emam, of the University of Ottawa, have developed a new methodology called, “Privacy-Protective Surveillance,” (PPS) to remedy the blatant disregard for the basic tenets of a free and open society, while ensuring that our governments have effective measures to counteract terrorism.
The new methodology is laid out the new paper, Introducing Privacy-Protective Surveillance: Achieving Privacy and Effective Counter-Terrorism, which offers a positive-sum, doubly-enabling alternative to the privacy-invasive, zero-sum surveillance systems currently in use by governments around the world.
Privacy Protective Surveillance (PPS) has two primary objectives in its design. First, the ability to scan the Web and related databases using a “blind-sight” procedure to detect digital evidence relating to potentially suspicious terrorist activity by some, without infringing on the privacy of other unrelated individuals. Secondly, a technological infrastructure, based on artificial intelligence and strong cryptography, to ensure that any personally identifying information (PII) on unrelated individuals is not collected and, in those cases associated with targeted activity, PII will be encrypted upon collection, analyzed securely, and only divulged to the appropriate authorities with judicial authorization (a warrant).
