Security technologies and the security research projects that work to develop or improve them can both have unwanted social impacts. For example, they might marginalise vulnerable populations, allow for disproportionate surveillance or reduce access to public space. Understanding the potential social impacts of a security research project or measure allows us to design better research activities, and where security measures are necessary, to work to avoid or mitigate their unwanted social impacts. This paper provides a summary of the state of the art methods for assessing the social impact of security research and a step-by-step methodology for doing this.
