Dr Andreas Busch has been awarded an ESRC grant for a two year research project on `Coping with innovation: the political regulation of personal information in comparative perspective`.
The project will examine the factors influencing different countries` regulatory responses to the emergence and proliferation of new personal information-related technologies. It will study three subject areas (CCTV cameras, RFID chips, and biometric passports) across four countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden).
Commenting on the project, Dr Busch said, `Today, we all constantly leave data traces, be it by using a cell phone, obtaining cash from an ATM or shopping with a customer loyalty card, being registered by cameras in public space, booking a flight online, or surfing the internet. Who can access these data? What can they be used for? Should there be a mandatory period after which they must be deleted? Societies make regulatory decisions on these topics, but political science and public policy research has given this issue little regard so far. This project hopes to make a contribution to both academic and practical knowledge about these important issues`.
Dr Andreas Busch is Reader in European Politics and a Fellow of Hertford College.
