About

The conference "In ICT we trust?" follows a broad, non-reductive conception of cyber security which does not reduce the problem to a mere technical question. Rather, the emphasis is on ethical implications and sociocultural perceptions of digital environments. The establishment and general uptake of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in European societies is not just a question of functionality, (technical) security and usability. Ethical standards gain significance when it comes to the adoption of ICT, such as respect for civil and human rights. On the other hand, there seems to be considerable cultural variance in public opinion with respect recent developments in ICT and recent revelations of personal data misuse and cybercrime. Vastly different levels of concern with respect to issues such as cybercrime, personal data use and surveillance can be observed across EU member states. Lack of (academic) understanding of the dynamics associated with these areas spawned several Horizon 2020 Research Actions to understand and map conditions of trustworthiness for ICT products and services. Following the letter of these calls, it falls upon the social sciences and humanities to answer these questions.

The European Commission has made the Digital Single Market Strategy one of ist political priorities. However, the existing plethora of sociocultural expectations and ethical standards defies a simple solution. The search for a trustworthy ICT environment and a flourishing data economy seems at the moment to be stuck between limitless technological innovation and securitization through government surveillance. The interdisciplinary conference “In ICT we trust?” will address key issues for trustworthy ICT products and services based on research conducted in European research projects. The contributions aim to support a better understanding of "trust in ICT" and how to implement trust considerations in regulatory, standardization und technological efforts.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Staudegger
Department of the Foundations of Law
Section Law and IT
elisabeth.staudegger@uni-graz.at

Univ. Prof. Dr. Harald Stelzer
Department of Philosophy
Section Political Philosophy
harald.stelzer@uni-graz.at

Martin Griesbacher, MA.
martin.griesbacher@sociology.at

The conference is organized in cooperation with the Horizon 2020 Project TRUESSEC.eu - an inter- and transdisciplinary coordination and Support Action for trust and security in ICT products and services.

TRUESSEC.eu is a "Coordination and Support Action" funded by the European Commission on certification and labelling of trustworthiness properties from a multidisciplinary SSH-ICT perspective and with emphasis on human rights. The TRUESSEC.eu project’s main objectives are (1.) to identify trustworthiness properties of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) products and services (including Cyber-Physical Systems), with special focus on security and privacy aspects, and (2.) to develop Recommendations for a European Trust Enhancing Label (RETEL) which will foster a high level of compliance by these products and services with the identified trustworthiness properties. In order to identify these properties, TRUESSEC.eu engages in interdisciplinary support studies which include socio-cultural, technical, business, legal and ethical perspectives.