privacy or security? What do you think is more important?

Since the corona pandemic, the call for more security has been increasing. In this crisis we have seen that sacrificing a little privacy gave us handles to contain the corona virus. The Netherlands also wants to enable hacking and wiretapping without prior permission in order to tackle crime. So on the one hand, privacy plays a major role and on the other hand, security. What do you think is more important?

Privacy or Security

There are also many benefits of data collection. For example, the information from your medical file can easily be shared between your general practitioner and a hospital, so that your admission goes faster. The police also hope that as many Dutch people as possible will share the images from their security cameras. They can then request those images in the event of a crime. People who have already registered for this will now be asked to link their account with DigiD. This allows the police to see for each street which security cameras are available, who owns them and how long the images are stored. And keeping everyone’s DNA in a database can help solve crimes faster. All in all, with all our personal data, the government can provide more security, detect criminal offenders faster and work on public health.

The Dutch police are increasingly using big data to improve detection and enforcement. This data is vital for tackling crime, but there are concerns about its negative impact. One of these is the possibility that this data will end up in the hands of third parties who use it for another purpose. An insurer can also seize medical information from people. On this basis, it can then exclude people from insurance or offer them less favorable conditions. And then we haven’t even mentioned the allowance affair in which the tax authorities, according to Amnesty International, used algorithms that violated human rights.

There are many proponents of more safety on the street and there are also many proponents of more privacy. Former minister Plasterk said in a speech at the University of Amsterdam that finding the right balance between security and privacy is by far the most difficult: “You could say that there is no contradiction between the two. Privacy is a human right, but security is a basic condition for enjoying it.”

AW Poll

We are curious what you think of this dilemma. Privacy or security? What do you think is more important? That’s what we want to ask you in this AW Poll. Leave your vote and further explain your answer in the comments at the bottom of this article.