Michael Herbert Nagenborg

Blind Spots on Achilles’ Heel: The Limitations of Vulnerability and Resilience Mapping in Research

The mapping of vulnerability and resilience has become an important tool for vulnerability and resilience research. By definition, maps are selective representations. However, the predominant methods of mapping also have constraints. When addressing vulnerability and resilience, these limitations, barriers, and blind spots have to be taken into account. Some aspects cannot be easily mapped, such as specific forms of knowledge and interpretation, the processuality of vulnerability and resilience, the dynamics of social processes, the context of origin, the establishment of contingent interpretations, and so on. These limitations are not only theoretically important, but also are practically significant, since maps themselves become dispositifs. They are regarded as representations of reality, shape particular interpretations of vulnerability and resilience, and are used as a basis for decision-making. If the unmapped preconditions of mapping remain unconsidered, this can lead to problematic side effects.

Designing spheres of informational justice

J. van den Hoven suggested to analyse privacy from the perspective of informational justice, whereby he referred to the concept of distributive justice presented by M. Walzer in “Spheres of Justice”. In “privacy as contextual integrity” Helen Nissenbaum did also point to Walzer’s approach of complex equality as well to van den Hoven’s concept. In this article I will analyse the challenges of applying Walzer’s concept to issues of informational privacy. I will also discuss the possibilities of framing privacy from the point of the “art of separation” by looking at the intersection of information infrastructures and institutions.

Ethik als Partnerin in der Technikgestaltung

Die (Angewandte) Ethik hat seit der Rehabilitation der praktischen Philosophie in den 1970-er Jahren einen rasanten Aufstieg erlebt. Bemerkenswert ist daran u. a. dass Ethik zunehmend in praktischen Entscheidungsprozessen gefragt ist und auch in trans- und interdisziplinare Forschungsprojekte eingebunden wird. Die Sicherheitsforschung macht hierbei keine Ausnahme. Vielmehr wird im Rahmen des Forschungsprogramms fur zivile Sicherheit des Bundesministeriums fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) die Beteiligung der Geistes-, Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften auch bei technologischen Forschungsprojekten ausdrucklich gewunscht und zum Teil gefordert. Diese Entwicklung sollte, wie Kurt Bayertz in seinem Aufsatz „Zur Selbstaufklarung der Angewandten Ethik“ (2004) festgestellt hat, auch von der Ethik nicht nur mit Befriedigung zur Kenntnis genommen werden, sondern gibt auch Anlass zur Selbstreflektion.

Surveillance and persuasion

This paper is as much about surveillance as about persuasive technologies (PTs). With regard to PTs it raises the question about the ethical limits of persuasion. It will be argued that even some forms of self-imposed persuasive soft surveillance technologies may be considered unethical. Therefore, the ethical evaluation of surveillance technologies should not be limited to privacy issues. While it will also be argued that PTs may become instrumental in pre-commitment strategies, it will also be demonstrated that the use of persuasive surveillance technologies in order to influence the users to become more compliant, to get their consent more easily or making it harder to opt out of the system does give rise to ethical issues.

Privacy im Social Semantic Web

Der Schwerpunkt dieses Beitrages liegt auf dem Design von Infrastrukturen, welche es ermoglichen sollen, private Daten kontrolliert preiszugeben und auszutauschen. Zunachst wird daran erinnert, dass rechtliche und technische Masnahmen zum Datenschutz stets auch dazu dienen, den Austausch von Daten zu ermoglichen. Die grundlegende Herausforderung besteht darin, der sozialen und politischen Bedeutung des Privaten Rechnung zu tragen. Privatheit wird aus der Perspektive der Informationsethik dabei als ein normatives, handlungsleitendes Konzept verstanden. Als Masstab fur die Gestaltung der entsprechenden Infrastrukturen wird auf Helen Nissenbaums Konzept der „privacy as contextual integrity“ zuruckgegriffen, um u. a. die Ansatze der „end-to-end information accountability“ [38] und des „Privacy Identity Management for Europe“- Projektes zu diskutieren.

Was ist „zivile“ Sicherheit?

Es war der 20. November 1947, als die Nachricht von Borcherts Tod bekannt wurde. Gemeinsam mit der Todesnachricht wurde dieser Text zum ersten Mal im Rundfunk verlesen. Der Text war in den letzten Wochen vor dem Tod des 26-Jahrigen entstanden und gilt als dessen letztes Werk, auch im eigentlichen Sinn als sein Vermachtnis. Borchert stirbt am Krieg, zweieinhalb Jahre nach dessen Ende. Er schreibt, weil seine Kriegserfahrung an der russischen Front und in deutschen Militargefangnissen nicht vergeht und nicht vergehen darf; und er schreibt in einer Situation, in der der Krieg nicht nur seine Welt – die „Ruinenstadt Hamburg“ war seine Heimat –, sondern auch ihn selbst zerstort hat.

Urban Robotics and Responsible Urban Innovation

Robots are leaving factories and entering urban spaces. In this paper, I will explore how we can integrate robots of various types into the urban landscape. I will distinguish between two perspectives: (1) the responsible design and use of urban robots and (2) robots as part of responsible urban innovations. The first viewpoint considers issues arising from the use of a robot in an urban environment. To develop a substantive understanding of Responsible Urban Robotics, we need to focus on normative implications of city life as the context in which in robots are being used. I will refer to the desirable qualities of city life as “cityness” and will argue that we should design for cityness. The second approach asks how robots might be used to address challenges specific to cities. From the perspective of RRI, this may require participatory approaches in which the needs of the stakeholders are addressed. But we may also find inspiration in the work undertaken in architecture on expanding the concept and field to ensure that architects not only provide services to the lucky few but also create useful and beautiful spaces for the many. A dialogue with architects, urban designers, and urban planners may also be needed to successfully address the spatial issues raised by the presence of robots in the city.

Informationelle Selbstbestimmung und die Bestimmung des Selbst

Wenn vom Recht auf informationelle Selbstbestimmung die Rede ist, dann wird in der Regel davon ausgegangen, dass jenes „Selbst“, dass da bestimmen soll, unabhangig von den Technologien zu denken ist, welche dieses Recht verletzen oder zu verletzen drohen. Diese Annahme kann jedoch beispielsweise unter Ruckgriff auf die „Extended Mind Theory“ (Clarke und Chalmers) hinterfragt werden. In einem zweiten Schritt wird erlautert, was es – auch in rechtlicher und technischer Hinsicht – bedeutet, Technikgestaltung als Selbst-Gestaltung ernst zu nehmen.

Hidden in plain sight: Conceptual and Regulatory Challenges

A recent off-spring of ‘privacy by design’ are artefacts and gadgets that aim to protect the privacy of the users. An example is the work of Adam Harvey, who ‘explores how fashion can be used as camouflage from face-detection technology’ (http://cvdazzle.com/). In this contribution, the author explores the differences using camouflage and masks as two distinctive tactics, which aim to restore aspects of anonymity provided by becoming part of the crowd. Current technological developments on biometrics-from-a-distance (e.g. face recognition system) aim to re-identify the single individual and therefore undermine an important aspect of urban anonymity, which has traditionally been perceived as a condition of the liberal urban life-style. While Adam Harvey’s works are inspired by World War I naval camouflage design, his works lean towards the use of the mask in revolutionary movements such as the Zapatistas or by members of Anonymous. Such Masks need be considered as ‘inter-faces’ in the literal meaning of the word, which, in contrast to the idea of camouflage, allow the users to be visible and present, while protecting the identity of the user.

Zukunft mit Daten gestalten : Aufforderung zu antizipatorischen Handeln

Anticipatory Action (Anderson, 2010) aims at rendering the future actionable. To shape the future, relevant elements of the present are singled out and modulated. In this paper, it will be argued that we should understand the ethics of emerging technologies as anticipatory action. Using the example of big data analytics, it will also be demonstrated how non-users of digital media may become disadvantaged if social media data become the only source for anticipating the future.