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Ethical aspects of new ICT technologies

The JRC supports the aim of building European confidence in the Digital Society by ensuring it is both ethically balanced and by highlighting the potential security aspects associated with it.

New and emerging Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) regularly bring along specific features that have an impact on security. The user is typically exposed to complex and difficult technology details that are not easily understood, such as technical settings of devices and services, default values, implications of service use etc. To be able to use new ICT technologies, the user often makes uninformed decisions with the risk of unconsciously sacrificing security. The JRC works towards early identification and characterisation of security related challenges posed by new and emerging ICT.

The JRC investigates security aspects of the Digital Society that are deemed to deserve policy attention with respect to ethical use and behaviour, application of and access to ICT. The attitude, responses and concerns of citizens about digital technologies need to be carefully considered and thereafter governed with purposefully designed policies in order to build and attain an ethically balanced digital confidence in Europe. The methodologies deployed include public engagement and analysis of the blogosphere, media analysis (including popular media), anticipation studies focused on security considerations of new and emerging ICT.

Ethical aspects of new ICT technologies
© Credit: VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SPL

Ethical aspects of new ICT technologies

Ethical aspects of new ICT technologies

To find out more about the JRC's work on similar topics, explore the related JRC portfolios: