Report: The dilemma between privacy and security

On February 17^th,  SIB-Amsterdam organized a lecture in CREA on the dilemma between privacy and security, as a part of our introduction week about the security obsession. Although this topic seems quite abstract, our lecturers made it a vivid and interesting evening.Our first speaker, Manon Oostveen, a PhD candidate at the Institute for Information law, told us about the need and right for privacy for every individual that is every once in a while threatened by the much more imaginative need for security. She also discussed the impact the collection of personal data by the government and businesses can have.Our second guest of the evening was prof. dr. Bert-Jan Koops, who researches the interaction between technology and law, in particular criminal law and regulation issues. He discussed the ‘balance’ metaphor between privacy and security. She did this with the help of many examples to make privacy a more imaginative topic and to show it is just as important as security. He also deliberated about the importance and misunderstandings of privacy and explained the legal shaping of security and privacy.