Surveillance as a Service? On the Use of Surveillance Data for Administrative Purposes

For law enforcement purposes, authorities may either use a method of indiscriminate control or an investigative approach aimed at (finding) a particular suspect of law-breaking behavior. By applying data matching technologies, indiscriminately collected surveillance data are combined with data from other sources to select individual citizens. Inspired by insights from behavioral research, these citizens may be proactively approached in order to steer them towards desired behavior. The authorities present their communications as a service. However, selecting and addressing individual citizens tends towards investigative practices without the demonstration of any law-breaking behavior, thus straining legal certainties related to the distinction between control and investigation. Practical examples are provided through three case studies, and a number of procedural improvements are suggested to reduce the potentially intimidating character of the practices.

[1]  Christopher Pierson.  The Modern State , 1996 .

[2]  M. L̃oś.  Looking into the future: surveillance, globalization and the totalitarian potential , 2006 .

[3]  Kim Mohan,et al.  Ring of Steel , 1995 .

[4]  Christine Jolls,et al.  A Behavioral Approach to Law and Economics , 1998 .

[5]  R. Thaler,et al.  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness , 2008 .

[6]  K. Dyson.  The state tradition in Western Europe: A study of an idea and institution , 1980 .

[7]  G. Corstens,et al.  Het Nederlands strafprocesrecht , 2011 .

[8]  Herbert Burkert,et al.  Some Preliminary Comments on the DIRECTIVE 95/46/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. , 1996 .

[9]  Jane Cassidy,et al.  The Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team , 2011, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[10]  George Loewenstein,et al.  Experimental Economics From the Vantage‐point of Behavioural Economics , 1999 .

[11]  David Lyon,et al.  Theorizing surveillance : the panopticon and beyond , 2006 .

[12]  J. A. Hobson.  The modern state , 1926 .

[13]  J. Alder.  Constitutional and Administrative Law , 1989 .

[14]  A. Schmid,et al.  Vetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid , 1987 .

[15]  R. Thaler,et al.  Libertarian Paternalism is Not an Oxymoron , 2003 .

[16]  R. Thaler,et al.  Libertarian Paternalism , 2019, Encyclopedia of Law and Economics.

[17]  Peter Kooreman,et al.  What Does Behavioral Economics Mean for Policy? Challenges to Savings and Health Policies in the Netherlands , 2010 .

[18]  FaHCSIA.  Data-matching Program (Assistance and Tax) Act 1990 , 2011 .

[19]  D. Lyon.  Surveillance Studies: An Overview , 2007 .