Algorithmic Security and Human Autonomy

Algorithmic Security and Human Autonomy

The core of human autonomy (understood as making self-de­ter­mined decisions and acting ac­cordingly) is increas­ingly being complemented, supported, or replaced by automated de­ci­sion-making (ADM) processes. In civil secu­rity, this has led to the emergence of “algorithmic” and “preventive” security. Recent examples at the EU level include the Passenger Name Rec­ord (PNR) Directive, and the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) Regulation. Compared to reactive and preventive approaches, algorithmic security aims to avoid specific criminal acts by assessing future behaviour probabilistically. While existing jurisprudence and scholarship on this security model acknowledges challenges to established rule of law principles and calls for greater alignment with normative standards, deeper ques­tions are rarely addressed, such as how this security model changes how people are con­ceived as addressees of legal norms, and modifies normative concepts that serve as bench­marks for evaluating security practices. This project accordingly aims to: (1) clarify the main features of the current trend toward algorithmic security in law and practice; (2) explore its implications for the relationship between law and its addressees; and (3) determine the con­tributions that autonomy concepts can make to providing a suitable normative backdrop. Par­ticular attention will be paid to conceptions of autonomy that go beyond self-legislation and self-determination, including its relational and social dimensions. By focusing on fundamental philosophical concepts, this project not only contributes to the first axis of the Department of Public Law’s topical matrix, but also explores the nature and implications of contemporary dig­i­talization trends in security law. Bridging the disciplines of legal and political philosophy, this project relies mainly on (historically contextualized) conceptual analysis and normative cri­tique. As behavioural profiling practices are not limited to the security sector—but permeate technologically-mediated social life and our digital economy more broadly—its research out­comes resonate well beyond the field of public security law.

 

Research outcome: peer-reviewed journal articles (2023–2024) 
Research focus:1. Fundamentals: Theoretical Foundations and Doctrinal Structures
Project language:English
Picture:© Pietro Jeng/Unsplash


Key publications

Orrù, E. (2024). Are publicly available (personal) data “up for grabs”? Three privacy arguments. In H. Matsumi, D. Hallinan, D. Dimitrova, E. Kosta, & P. de Hert (Eds.), Data Protection and Privacy (pp. 105–123). Oxford: Hart Publishing. doi:10.5040/9781509975976.ch-004
Orrù, E. (2023). Die Entstehung des präemptiven Sicherheitsansatzes in der Europäischen Union. In M. H. W. Möllers & R. C. van Ooyen (Eds.), Jahrbuch Öffentliche Sicherheit (JBÖS) – 2022/2023 (pp. 599–612). Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Orrù, E. (2022). The European PNR Directive as an instance of pre-emptive, risk-based algorithmic security and its implications for the regulatory framework. Information Polity, 27(2), 131–146. doi:10.3233/IP-211531

Public lecture series (co-organizer)

 

  •  “Artificial Intelligence as a Challenge and a Chance”, Freiburg University, January 2024–January 2025.

Overview • Freiburg University

Selection:

Das Werkzeug als Spielzeug. Vom Nutzen absurder Gespräche mit Chat GPT

Colloquium Politicum – Artificial Intelligence as a Challenge and an Opportunity
  • Date: Jan 14, 2025
  • Time: 06:15 PM - 07:45 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: PD Dr. Wolfgang Heuer (Freie Universität Berlin)
  • Co-Convenor: PD Dr. Elisa Orrù (MPI-CSL)
  • Location: University of Freiburg/Germany
  • Room: HS 1199, KG I
  • Host: Colloquium politicum in cooperation with: Lehrstuhl für Polit. Philosophie, Theorie und Ideengeschichte; Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law; Center for Security and Society
  • Contact: e.orru@csl.mpg.de

Biometrics: A Weapon 4 New Worlds

Colloquium Politicum – Artificial Intelligence as a Challenge and an Opportunity
  • Date: Dec 10, 2024
  • Time: 06:15 PM - 07:45 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Prof. Nitzan Lebovic (Leigh University, USA)
  • Co-convenor: PD Dr. Elisa Orrù (MPI-CSL)
  • Location: University of Freiburg/Germany
  • Room: HS 1199, KG I
  • Host: Colloquium politicum in cooperation with: Lehrstuhl für Polit. Philosophie, Theorie und Ideengeschichte; Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law; Center for Security and Society
  • Contact: e.orru@csl.mpg.de

Other Interesting Articles

Go to Editor View