Privacy Matters

ended

With the rapid increase in technological means for personal information capture and surveillance and the use of Artificial Intelligence, there is growing challenge to establishing and maintaining individual privacy. One important factor contributing to the erosion of privacy is the growth in biometric person recognition technologies. Another is the increasing possibility for extensive data mining, allowing for the aggregation, linkage and inference of personal information of individuals active on the internet. With the ubiquity of sensors (in mobile devices, CCTV cameras, etc.) and processing power, there is a real possibility that privacy may become an unattainable goal unless technological and societal steps are taken to allow the citizens to regain control of their personal information and activities. The ITN PriMa aims at training the next generation of researchers and technologists who have an all-round understanding of the multidisciplinary nature of the issues involved and who can contribute to the development of solutions that address this important societal challenge. PriMa will bring together Europe-wide complementary academic and industrial expertise to investigate these issues and provide a structure and environment to effectively facilitate training. The proposed ITN will cover the technological issues regarding privacy protection for biometric technologies as well as the related ethical, legal and psychological issues. The ITN will comprise academic and industrial partners, as well as an external advisory board. The academic partners from different European states will each run inter-related PhD programs requiring their ITN Early-Stage Researchers (ESR) to visit and work on their project at other partner universities, as well as at industrial partners, to develop a wider vision of the subject and their potential for contribution and collaboration.