Civil Liberties vs. Security: Why Citizens Accept or Reject Digital Security Measures.

Fundamental changes to security policy in European democracies raise the question of the acceptance of new security measures. This paper aims to explain why new measures are accepted (or not). It combines three core elements that are typically analysed separately in the literature: individual attitudes (especially trust), social context and cost/benefit balancing. Comparing Germany and the UK, the model is tested using data from two countries with different societal perceptions of two prototypical security measures: communications data retention and passenger name records. The analysis confirms that trust is crucial, but in a more complex way than usually argued. Trust in specific institutions and actors, related to the specific security measure, is decisive for acceptance. Furthermore, individual cost/benefit balancing is also important for acceptance. Consequently, our model shows that a more detailed analysis than in former studies is needed for understanding the acceptance of security measures in European democracies such as Germany and the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]