Privacy in the Information Age: Stakeholders, Interests and Values

International Data Privacy Law, 2011

1999

Privacy is a relational and relative concept that has been defined in a variety of ways. In this paper we offer a systematic discussion of potentially different notions of privacy. We conclude that privacy as the freedom or immunity from the judgement of others is an extremely useful concept to develop ways in which to understand privacy claims and associated risks. To this end, we develop a framework of principles that explores the interrela- tions of interests and values for various stakeholders where privacy concerns have risen or are expected to rise. We argue that conflicts between the interests and values of different stakeholders may result in legitimate claims of privacy/transparency being ignored or underrepresented. Central to this analysis is the notion of a stakeholder. We argue that stake- holders are persons or groups with legitimate inter- ests, of intrinsic value, in the procedural and/or substantive aspects of the privacy/transparency claim and subsequent judgements...

In my presentation, I assume three hypotheses, validate them and come to a conclusion that leads to the alternative definition of privacy. a) Apprehension is an unpleasant emotion that is specifically linked to our public appearances. b) Privacy is a system, in which apprehension can be undone. c) Confidence or trust (used here as synonyms), when it comes to personal information, undoes apprehension. If (a), (b) and (c) are true, hence: d) Privacy is made of a network of trustworthy relationships that concern the use of personal information, no more, no less. To proceed, I will need to define the concepts I have named above, especially by distinguishing confidence from what I call “reasoned confidence”. In order to do so, I will oppose two different historical conceptions of privacy: the “classical” and the “alternative”; and will show that the latter is the contemporary conception of privacy.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018

This paper presents a multidisciplinary approach to privacy. The sub- ject is examined from an ethical, social, and economic perspective reflecting the preliminary findings of the EU-funded research project PRESCIENT. The analy- sis will give a comprehensive illustration of the dimensions’ unique and charac- teristic features. This will build the basis for identifying overlaps and developing synergetic effects, which should ideally contribute to a better understanding of privacy.

Journal of Social Issues, 1977

Meanings of privacy in everyday speech, in behavioral and social science, and in American law are compared. A variety of independent meanings emerge within each domain, and these distinctions are repeated across domains. A common‐core definition is proposed that appears to be consistent with these meanings. One behavioral theory that attempts to bring conceptual order to the various meanings of privacy is reviewed, and the review is extended to a general commentary on the current status of behavioral theories of privacy. Future tasks and directions for establishing a more complete understanding of privacy are indicated, including the explication of theoretical systems and the creation of linkages across disciplines and concepts.

In: Keresztes, Gábor (ed.): Tavaszi Szél 2016 Tanulmánykötet I., Budapest, Doktoranduszok Országos Szövetsége, 2016

The protection of privacy cannot be separated from technological development: nowadays, due to the development of science and technology, the possibility to intrude into someone's privacy has increased. The law has to react to these changes, ensuring the legal protection of privacy. However, in order to ensure this protection, first of all it is necessary to determine the subject of this protection: privacy. Privacy itself is as old as mankind, however, it was not always a legally protected right. What is considered to be private and what is legally protected as private can differ. One of the most important issues concerning legal privacy protection is that -according to several privacy scholars and the European Court of Human Rights -it is not possible to give an exhaustive legal definition of the subject of privacy protection. The importance of privacy can be related to the fact that privacy has a very close connection with human dignity, freedom and independence of the individual, and it is more and more challenged in the age of the rapid technological development of the information society. The aim of the study is to present the historical development of privacy in order to better understand the concept of privacy and to find a solution to how privacy can be effectively protected in the information society. First, I am going to discuss the short history of privacy, then its already existing definitions, then the way international -especially European -legal regulations regulate the protection of private life, and finally I am going to outline the current challenges posed by the information society. As a result of my study, I will make some recommendations about how the existing regulations should protect privacy nowadays.

Protecting the Genetic Self from Biometric Threats

This chapter examines not only the history of the term privacy but also its international recognition as a fully protected right. Given the wide array of definitions of privacy, it can be said that the term seeks its identity. Depending on time and space, this right has had various traits, beyond the obstacles of a strict definition. The aspects or features of the term are those that lead to the necessity of its international recognition and protection, especially in the present digital and technological environment, where its foundation is reconsidered and internationally protected in an effective way.

Metaphilosophy, 1997

For more than thirty years an extensive and significant philosophical debate about the notion of privacy has been going on. Therefore it seems puzzling that most current authors on information technology and privacy assume that all individuals intuitively know why privacy is important. This assumption allows privacy to be seen as a liberal "nice to have" value: something that can easily be discarded in the face of other really important matters like national security, the doing of justice and the effective administration of the state and the corporation. In this paper I want to argue that there is something fundamental in the notion of privacy and that due to the profoundness of the notion it merits extraordinary measures of protection and overt support. I will also argue that the notion of transparency (as advocated by Wasserstrom) is a useless concept without privacy and that accountability and transparency can only be meaningful if encapsulated in the concept of privacy. From philosophical and legal literature I will discuss and argue the value of privacy as the essential context and foundation of human autonomy in social relationships. In the conclusion of the paper I will discuss implications of this notion of privacy for the information society in general, and for the discipline of information systems in particular.

Internet Policy Review, 2019

This contribution provides a short introduction into the conceptual and socio-technical development of privacy. It identifies central issues that inform and structure current debates as well as transformations of privacy spurred by digital technology. In particular, it highlights central ambivalences of privacy between protection and de-politicization and the relation of individual and social perspectives. A second section connects these issues to the influential texts and discussions on digital privacy. In particular, we will demonstrate privacy in digital societies is to be conceived in a novel way, since contemporary socio-technical conditions unsettle central assumptions of established theories: forms of perceptions, social structure or individual rights. Thus, a final third paragraph summarises theoretical innovations triggered by this situationespecially research from computer science to the social sciences and law and philosophy highlighting the requirement to take groups, social relations and broader socio-cultural contexts into account.