Cybersecurity experts are joining forces with government officials to try and “end the war between privacy and security”.
The Digital Equilibrium Project, as it’s known, aims to “foster a new, productive dialogue on balancing security and privacy in the connected world”.
It will release its ‘foundational’ paper on this contentious debate, Balancing Security and Privacy in the Connected World, on Tuesday March 1st at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, US.
The group hopes that the project – and the supporting document – will encourage both sides of the privacy/security argument to better discuss the underlying issues they have.
It is intended to “end the kinds of standoffs we are seeing between Apple and the US government,” the authors and project participants explained.
“I’ve had a front row seat in the perceived debate between privacy and security as the author of landmark cybersecurity legislation,” commented Dutch Ruppersberger, a US congressman and cybersecurity advocate.
“I have been disheartened to see government, industry and privacy advocates drawing hard and fast lines in the sand. This can’t continue if we are to make meaningful changes in the way we protect … the rights of private citizens.”
Also speaking on the matter, Art Coviello, former executive chairman of RSA, said that the quarrel between both the US government and Apple are “symptoms of a larger issue”.
More needs to be done to catch up to the digital world we find ourselves in, he continued – laws, policies and “social constructs” need to be updated.
He explained: “We are on a pace to connect another billion people, and a billion devices, to the internet over the next 5-10 years, with no national or global constructs for how privacy, crime, nation-state aggression and corporate responsibility will be addressed.”
The paper will be offered to president Barack Obama, along with current members of both the House and the Senate.