PRACTIS examined the potential impact of new technologies and the latest scientific findings on privacy. The project developed ethical frameworks and legal measures to address potential threats to privacy. On the one hand, policy approaches were developed for dealing with new, individual privacy needs that arise due to new technologies. On the other hand, PRACTIS elaborated ethical frameworks for both jurisdiction and the introduction of new technologies and product development. As a first step, the project team developed a broad overview of the technologies that may have an impact on privacy. In addition, changes in the understanding of the term “privacy” were examined. Among other things, student surveys were conducted for this purpose. The empirical studies form the basis for the second step. The researchers developed future scenarios in which they examined interactions and resulting changes in the concept of privacy with new technologies. From the scenarios, the project team formulated new ethical and legal frameworks.

The aim of the PRACTIS project was to generate knowledge about the changes in the concept of privacy due to the use of new technologies. It also aimed to improve the knowledge of key stakeholders and researchers on conceptual changes. An innovative approach in the PRACTIS project was to embed the issue of privacy in the development of new technologies. The implications of the results of the research were prepared for policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders.

Duration: 01/2010 – 12/2012
Client: EU Commission, 7th Research Framework Programme
Team: Prof. Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel (Projectmanagement), Nicolas Bach, Dr. Leon Hempel, Dr. Christine von Blanckenburg
Project partner:
Interdisciplinary Centre for Technology Analysis and Forecasting (ICTAF), University Tel-Aviv, Israel
Turku School of Economics, Finland Futures Research Centre, Finnland
Foundation for European Scientific Cooperation, Polen
University of Notre-Dame de la Paix, Research Centre in Informatics and Law, Belgium
The Interdisciplinary Center for Comparative Research in the Social Sciences, Austria