Convenience and cost-effectiveness are the key considerations for both citizens and security forces when deciding which technologies to embrace or avoid. State actors and private corporations adopt information communication technologies (ICTs) because they are cost-effective. The motivation for adoption may differ in the private and public sectors, but once adopted these ICTs can be bridged in multiple ways, permitting police/security forces to go beyond the data they gather directly and increasingly tap into data gathered and stored by private corporations. These ICTs, which have to date gone through a period of largely organic growth, will be deemed to be “in balance” if they are implemented in a way that respects individual privacy while still maximizing convenience, profitability, public safety, and security. RESPECT seeks to investigate whether the current and foreseeable implementation of informational and communicational technologies for surveillance of citizens is balanced, determining on the grounds of different indicators the “level of balance,” where a lack of balance may exist, and how it is perceived by citizens. The project studies the options for redressing the “balance” through a combination of Privacy-Enhancing technologies and different operational approaches. The investigations are focused on five key sectors not yet tackled by other recent studies in this area (CCTV, database mining and interconnections, online social network analysis, RFID and geo-location/sensor devices, and financial tracking). In addition, RESPECT will also carry out quantitative and qualitative analysis on citizens’ awareness and attitude toward modern forms of surveillance. RESPECT will produce an aggregate of tools that would enable policymakers to better understand the socio-cultural, operational, and economic significance of surveillance systems. The project will prepare operational guidelines for the incorporation of protection of personal data by design approaches, which would enable executive authorities to implement similar systems with the lowest privacy risk and maximum security gain to citizens upon use of their personal data. The project is supported by the European Commission, Section “Security,” Subsection “Surveillance and challenges for the security of the citizen,” with financing under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7); and is created within the research network LexConverge. Prof. Joseph Cannataci is the main researcher and overall project coordinator as part of the University of Malta team. Italy is in partnership with 19 other partners from 15 different countries.