Privacy issues of combining ubiquitous computing and software agent technology in a life-critical environment

Ubiquitous computing and software agents allow a high degree of decentralization, the capability to process an increasing amount of information and the ability to react in real-time on changes in the environment. They are thus capable to support highly dynamic environments like logistics processes in hospitals. However, giving up centralized control means also a dependency upon common rule sets and the question how decentralized entities can be enforced to adhere to regulations and definitions which are deemed imperative by the human systems designer and to assure acceptability. The paper shows the methods and concepts applied in EMIKA and their reflection regarding the specific requirements of the hospital application.