Surveillance: Extending the Limits of Privacy Impact Assessment

Abstract

Privacy impact assessment (PIA) can be used to investigate the impact upon privacy that surveillance, using new information and communications technologies (ICTs) or information systems, might have before these applications are fully developed and implemented. PIA requires that an organisation subject its plans to more or less rigorous screening through the lens of privacy or data protection, to identify weaknesses in the innovation’s compliance with relevant laws or principles, and to indicate how these might be eliminated. Myriad stakeholders potentially affected by the innovation may also be involved in this investigation. In an extreme situation, a project could be abandoned if its PIA indicated irremediable shortcomings.