Privacy Concerns in the Information Society

1. Privacy Concerns in the Information Society The Right To Know

3. Need a doctor? No. Get me a lawyer!

4. The world has changed • the Berlin wall has fallen • globalisation • brand names are important • in Holland, shops are open on Sunday • “The end of history …” (Fukuyama 1991) the capitalistic democratic state has won … • EU 27 member states

5. The world has changed • our way of thinking has changed • we are now rational, calculating persons • Jensen and Meckling (1994), “The nature of man” • REMP • Resourceful, Evaluating, Maximizing Person

6. Changing norms and concepts • privacy • anonymity • freedom of information • intellectual property • reliability of accountants and firms • enormous salaries, option plans for some • killing thousands of civilians • bringing democracy to nations • ….. • technology driven • media, telephone, fax, internet

7. Impact information technology

8. Characteristics of the information society • digitizing • paper regime  digital regime • save, process, store, search (pattern recognition), retrieve, reproduce, (tele)communicate • increasing accessibility information • search programs • hypertext links • interactive nature • ‘global’ distribution of information • virtual organization • hide from state power • diminishing/changing intermediary functions

9. Stages of technological development • rough materials • pans and pots, roof above your head • change of structure, movement • wheel, hinge • energy source in artefact • steam engine, combustion engine, electric motor • artefact starts up automatically • self-opening doors, computers • ?

10. Stages of technological development • the information society, connected to the fourth stage, is essentially new because nowadays also machines can interpret data

11. Modelforintegratedlawscience technology can remm/ business adm. want law may

12. ‘Internet’ logical stadium of development? • functions of computers: • input / output • processing (< costs processor capacity) • storage (< costs disk capacity) • telecommunications (< costs telecommunications) • everything is getting cheaper,but the differences increase

13. New (legal) questions • intellectual property • chips protection • software protection • database/data protection • downloading from the internet / MP3 / file sharing • e-business • e-government • privacy • crime • transborder data flow • internet related questions • (domain names; secrecy of the mail;) • (the legal position of intermediaries)

14. Privacy concept • Kate Middleton • Diana • NSA

15. Privacy concept • 1890 Warren en Brandeis, • “The right to be let alone” • 1967 Prof. Westin, “Privacy and Freedom” • “the claim of individuals, groups and organizations to determine for themselves to what extent information about themselves shall be revealed to others”

16. Privacy concept • for instance: freedom of movement • (spatial privacy;) • (physical privacy;) • (relational privacy;) • (informational privacy) • would you feel more or less comfortable if your bags – and the ones of your fellow travellers – would not have been examined before boarding the airplane?

17. Changing norms and concepts • “Big Brother” • big brother is watching you • big brother is watching over you • it’s a popular television program! • “The Golden Cage” • lots of ‘reality programs’ • blogs • gossip

18. Lindquist case – European Court • (b) ‘processing of personal data’ (‘processing’) collection, recording, organization, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, blocking, erasure or destruction;(data protection directive) • to call anything we do with computers ‘processing’ leads to sheer madness(and is contrary to the ‘functions of computers’)

19. The world has changed • services society • knowledge and preferences • and what to do with it … • safety and security • 9/11 • nuclear arms next? • social control • ‘the global village’ • solidarity • what makes a society • individualisation (‘rationality’)

20. Development in The Netherlands • 1985 – Data Registrations Act • the outcome of discussions that were started in the seventies • the sociological model • the ‘construable society’ • control, licenses, permits and regulations • Registration Authority • 1995 – Data Protection Act • data distribution networks • the rational model • market economy • open norms and transparency • Authority for the protection of personal data • ? 2007 – ‘Data Promotion Act’? - The right to know? • internet • control? transparency? • Authority for the promotion of personal data

21. Is privacy a right? - These 1 • privacy - ‘the right to be let alone’ - is nothing more than the barometer of the state of technology • more scientifically: • if there is a relationship between information technology and privacy protection (which is supposed to be there) • and if the use of information technology is beneficiary to society (which it is) • than it can be predicted that the existing notion of privacy protection will slowly diminish (in favour of ‘the right to know’)

22. That’s all folks!