Terrorist attacks in the Western world have raised much discussion and concern about appropriate anti-terrorism measures, especially those that could affect civil liberties such as (electronic) surveillance and the rights of accused and suspicious people.
Following the attacks of July 7th 2005 in London, the European Union and its member states have debated policies to fight international terrorism that caused much controversy about the trade off between civil liberties and human rights standard. Support for civil liberties can be seen as a construct involving value trade-offs where a balance between freedom and control is to be found.
Finding the “right” balance between security measures that need to be taken to combat terrorism and respecting human rights and freedom thus could lead to a new “set” of civil liberties granted to citizens after the attack.
