12: Security in digital worlds: perceptions, practices, and policies (Oishee Kundu, Joanna Syrda, Adam Joinson)
The widespread use of internet and IoT devices for personal and professional purposes raises issues about governing digital technologies for a secure digital world. The design, development, and diffusion of hardware devices and software is linked to governance, standards and regulation, and responsible research and innovation (RRI). The perceptions, practices, and policies regarding digital technologies and digital security will significantly impact the future of our digitally connected world. This track invites research paper presentations on topics related to the theme of digital security and STI policy in the digital world. Some indicative topics include the study of perceptions and practices related to digital security at different levels – individual (micro), organisational (meso), and national (macro), and in different sectors – health, education, banking and finance, public services, etc. There are multiple and interconnected digital worlds and the disruptive nature of digital technologies, especially secure-by-design hardware, raises questions about adoption, socio-technical transitions, and systemic changes. For example, how do perceptions affect technology uptake and diffusion? What are the policies, policy mixes, and policy evaluations related to the access and use of new digital technologies? How do market externalities associated with security influence digital practices, and what implications does this have for the pricing of digital technologies, and more widely, the digital world? We expect this to be a multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary track, since subject knowledge and methods from different disciplines – economics, psychology, history of science, social theory, public policy, political science – are required to identify, understand, and generate the key questions to imagine secure digital futures.
STI policy on digital technologies needs to respond to a number of concerns. Firstly, there is a question of responsibility. Who is responsible for identifying vulnerabilities in digital environments? How is the risk of digital insecurity shared between designers, users, and regulators? These questions may be very similar to the security and governance questions we have been asking in other sectors like energy, construction and housing, or public health and social care. However, we do not have adequate research and responses to these questions for the digital world. Secondly, what is the role of public support for security solutions? Public support and regulation can take many forms like tax breaks, subsidies, and procurement. It may be helpful to have a better understanding of how governments have historically interacted with innovative and disruptive technologies, in the digital sector or beyond, to anticipate how STI policy will be crafted (or is being crafted) for digital futures. Thirdly, what are the ethical and governance challenges regarding the development and use of new digital technologies? For example, a number of perspectives exist on AI, ranging from an optimistic vision and imaginaries of a better world to a cautious and pessimistic outlook that identifies immediate threats like AI-made deepfakes and erosion of social trust, and anticipates long-term existential threat to humanity. STI research must actively participate and inform these discussions and debates.
Keywords: digital futures, cybersecurity, AI, technology adoption, comparative studies