The Department of Information Policy and Governance with the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences is hosting a research seminar entitled 'Somewhat untried and untested: Why Intelligence Oversight is still Work-in-Progress' at its premises on Wednesday 5 December. The research seminar will be held at 12:00 in Room 414, MaKS Building.
Abstract
As technological advancements create ecosystems in which human rights and other social values may be placed at risk, it has become more crucial to ensure that intelligence activities remain legitimate, necessary and proportionate. Effective oversight of security and intelligence services is at the heart of this effort.
It has sometimes been proposed that the deployment of a 'one-size fits all' model of intelligence oversight model is not feasible. Rather, oversight mechanisms must consider the legal, social, and political idiosyncrasies of the nations in which they are implemented, including distinct intelligence gathering practices and differing technological advancements. Is this true and if yes, why and where so?
Despite the need for oversight mechanisms which may be tailored to the needs of individual countries, a number of general principles of success can be distilled from oversight systems around the world. These insights, in turn, can be used to improve upon oversight mechanisms which may still be developing. This paper traces both successful and unsuccessful oversight practices in four countries—France, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Ireland—and considers whether each success or failure was caused by the content of the legislation, by the implementation of the legislation, or both.
By empirically considering some preliminary reflections on tried and tested models of intelligence oversight—including identifying promising practices and common difficulties—this paper aims to lay the groundwork for a coherent framework for intelligence oversight policy that will help build or improve upon developing oversight mechanisms around the world.
Ms Tanita Cotarcea is currently serving as Research Support Officer within the Department of Information Policy and Governance at the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Science of the University of Malta. She is also volunteering for tasks as part of the team assisting Prof. Joe Cannataci in his mandate as UN Special Rapporteur for Privacy (SRP), which role has also enabled her to obtain hands-on insights into the world of privacy, surveillance and oversight. Ms Cotarcea holds an LL.B. from the University of Bucharest and a DEUG in Law from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is currently researching for a Master’s degree, her dissertation aiming to empirically establish what is the current status-quo in the world regarding intelligence oversight mechanisms and to determine how have the current models changed in the post-Snowden era in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Ireland and Romania with significant reference to recent developments in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia. Her research interests include data protection law, surveillance and oversight mechanisms, security science, digital rights (especially the right to privacy and the right to be forgotten), cyber-security, intelligence agencies, information policy and Internet governance.