SÄKERHET KONTRA INTEGRITET En enkät-experimentell studie om hur framing av integritetsaspekter kontra säkerhetsaspekter påverkar stöd för övervakning i Sverige

Sammanfattning

Many new surveillance technologies are being rapidly implemented in Sweden. Despite surveillance posing a potential threat to personal integrity, public support for surveillance in Sweden remains strong. However, little attention has been directed towards what causes these attitudes. One possible cause is that Swedish officials have unanimously shifted their framing of surveillance, from emphasising threats to personal integrity to instead emphasising its usefulness to maintain peace and security. According to framing theory, such communication can be used to legitimise policies and sway public opinion. In an online vignette-based experiment, 550 participants were randomly exposed to either a security frame, integrity frame or control group. Individuals’ support were then measured in regard to real-time facial recognition, covert data surveillance and Palantir’s AI surveillance software. The results show mixed effectiveness of framing. Integrity framing managed to change individuals' overall attitude toward surveillance, but security framing did not. However, both security and integrity framing had significant effects on support for specific surveillance technologies. Individuals became significantly less supportive of covert data surveillance when exposed to an integrity frame, while support for the use of Palantir’s AI software significantly increased when exposed to a security frame. The study concludes that individuals' susceptibility to surveillance framing may be sensitive to the perceived intrusiveness and effectiveness of the specific surveillance technology/practice being framed. The study also shows that citizens do take integrity into consideration more when framed, even in a high institutional trust context such as Sweden.Keywords: Security policies, surveillance, security, civil liberties, integrity, framing, opinion, Palantir, facial recognition technology (FRT), government hacking