Understanding Privacy

privacyprof writes "Slashdot readers familiar with Professor Daniel J. Solove's essay, 'I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy,' might be interested in his new book, Understanding Privacy, which develops many of the ideas in that essay. As rapidly changing technology makes information increasingly available, there has been a great struggle to define privacy, with many conceding that the task is virtually impossible. The book argues there are multiple forms of privacy, related to one another by 'family resemblances.' It explains the framework for understanding privacy which was briefly discussed in the 'Nothing to Hide' essay. The book covers the framework in greater depth and explores how it applies to a wide array of privacy issues, such as data mining, surveillance, data security, and consumer privacy. Chapter 1 is available for free download."

Those old white dudes had it right

[Anonymous Coward]

Property privacy:
"No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

Property Privacy Rights, part two:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Just something to think about.

Re:Sorta....

[fyngyrz]

Frankly, the type of data the US Government works with is mostly public knowledge anyway.

Yes? What you say on the phone? The amounts, times and participants in your banking transactions? Your medical records? Your email? Your borrowings from the library? Your purchases from Amazon? Your credit card records? These comprise "public knowledge"?

I'm sorry, but I have to call your position the definitive "head in the sand" position. I cannot agree, even slightly.

Re:"I've Got Nothing To Hide"

[CodeBuster]

Being monitored creates stress. Now imagine putting people permanently under stress. I could see a few flipping before long.

In fact this is precisely what happened during the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment [wikipedia.org].

Re:A short story about privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

Brilliantly written. I keep an copy of Ann Frank on my desk. People ask why. I tell them it is a reminder of what happens when information is given to the wrong people and how people die as a result. In the future great books will be written and great movies will be made dealing with privacy issues and destruction resulting therefrom.

   

Re:Privacy isn't that difficult.

[KGIII]

Just an observation... The 4th only applies to the government specifically and not towards anything else (I have wondered about private entities and then submission of the information to the government for a while now). Additionally, the word privacy doesn't appear in there at all.

I think it needs fixing. That is just my opinion though.

I'm kind of old and kind of have some odd memories. For instance, I used a party line on the telephone as a kid. I guess, to ask a retarded (slowed) question... Does anyone REALLY expect privacy when they talk on a phone or use the internet or the likes? I mean, really? Do you expect it? I *wish* it but I don't expect it. I don't think I have a reasonable expectation of it because, well, it would be unreasonable for me to expect it in this environment? I still WANT it but I don't expect it.

Privacy is dead, get over it

[Anonymous Coward]

A couple years ago, a private investigator named Steve Rambam gave a talk at (well, after) Hope Number Six in New York. His speech was titled "Privacy is Dead, Get Over It."

* Every time I heard someone quip this phrase or something similar, it made me want to scream. But after listing to his talk, I found that I had to agree with the premise. Thanks to the last two decades of technology, there really is no more expectation of real privacy as most of us think about it. Here are some of the key points that I remember from the talk:

* Almost everybody leaves an electronic trail of their daily activities whether they realize it or not. Paying with a credit card, walking through a downtown area, driving through an intersection with a red-light camera, and buying cough medicine are all ways you can end up with your exact location recorded in that particular point in time.

* Practically any company can get more information on you (especially your financial history) than you can.

* The Internet has made it possible to get extremely detailed background checks on anyone you like for a very small fee and almost no effort.

* The U.S. government has fairly tight controls on how they're allowed to compile and use private information on citizens. Corporations, however, do not. There are a number of companies now that do nothing but compile vast amounts of information on everyone they can and then sell full access to their database to government agencies because it's not illegal for the government to *buy* your private information. They don't even need a warrant to access it.

* Ask any investigator and they'll tell you that Google is their favorite tool. Followed by MySpace, Facebook, and blogs. If you have any significant social interaction online, they don't even need to spend any money to find information on you because chances are you've already told the world far more than you realize.

You can hear Steve's talks here: (three parts)

http://www.hopenumbersix.net/mp3/16/privacy1.mp3 [hopenumbersix.net]
http://www.hopenumbersix.net/mp3/16/privacy2.mp3 [hopenumbersix.net]
http://www.hopenumbersix.net/mp3/16/privacy3.mp3 [hopenumbersix.net]

If you're in doubt, just try googling a few email addresses and/or aliases you've used over the past few years. I did just this a few weeks ago and was completely floored. There are traces of my online interactions going back over a decade.

(Posting anonymously because I don't want anyone to get any bright ideas.)