Converging technologies and de-perimeterisation: towards risky active insulation

In converging technologies (Roco and Bainbridge, 2003), boundaries between previously separated technologies become permeable. A similar process is also taking place within information technology. In what is called de-perimeterisation (Jericho Forum, 2005), the boundaries of the information infrastructures of organisations dissolve. Where previously a firewall was used to separate the untrusted outside from the trusted inside, outsourcing of information management and mobility of employees make it impossible to rely on such a clearly located security perimeter. In this paper, we ask the question to what extent these developments represent a similar underlying shift in design assumptions, and how this relates to risk management (cf. Perrow, 1999). We investigate this question from the perspective of the system theory of Niklas Luhmann (1979, 1988, 2005 [1993]).