ABSTRACT
Decisions about the use of intrusive technology by the police involve the prioritisation of a range of competing interests. This chapter isolates two of these – privacy and security. It considers the principles that ought to guide decision-making about these matters, suggesting that we should look to political theory for them. While there are references to liberal values in writing about policing and new technologies, it is suggested in this chapter that the approach to decision-making in this field ought to be guided by republican rather than liberal ideas. While liberals tend to think about the value of privacy in terms of the effect of its loss on autonomy, republicans value privacy because it protects those that have it from domination – others’ uncontrolled power to interfere with their choices. The way that republicans think about the value of privacy provides the basis of a more compelling account of the harm caused by the use of intrusive technology across a wider range of circumstances than is likely to be offered by liberals. Further to this, it is suggested that the adoption of a republican conception of political legitimacy enables citizens to exercise a greater degree of control over the adoption and use of such technology than the liberal conception secures for citizens.
