![]() One of the hallmarks of freedom is having autonomy and control over our lives, and we can’t have that if so many important decisions about us are being made in secret without our awareness or participation. Moreover, we are helpless without the ability to have a say in how our data is used or the ability to object and have legitimate grievances be heard when data uses can harm us. Without having knowledge of what data is being used, how it is being used, the ability to correct and amend it, we are virtually helpless in today’s world. ![]() Indeed, personal data affects nearly everything, including what messages and content we see on the Internet. Personal data is used to determine whether we are investigated by the government, or searched at the airport, or denied the ability to fly. Personal data is essential to so many decisions made about us, from whether we get a loan, a license or a job to our personal and professional reputations. When trust is breached in one relationship, that could make us more reluctant to trust in other relationships. Likewise, we trust other people we interact with as well as the companies we do business with. In professional relationships such as our relationships with doctors and lawyers, this trust is key to maintaining candor in the relationship. ![]() Breaches of confidentiality are breaches of that trust. In relationships, whether personal, professional, governmental, or commercial, we depend upon trusting the other party. Most people don’t want everybody to know everything about them – hence the phrase “none of your business.” And sometimes we don’t want to know everything about other people - hence the phrase “too much information.” Privacy is also helpful to reduce the social friction we encounter in life. Breaches of these boundaries can create awkward social situations and damage our relationships. Privacy helps people manage these boundaries. We also establish informational boundaries, and we have an elaborate set of these boundaries for the many different relationships we have. We need places of solitude to retreat to, places where we are free of the gaze of others in order to relax and feel at ease. These boundaries are both physical and informational. People establish boundaries from others in society. Maintaining Appropriate Social Boundaries Privacy helps people protect themselves from these troublesome judgments.Ĥ. People judge badly, they judge in haste, they judge out of context, they judge without hearing the whole story, and they judge with hypocrisy. Knowing private details about people’s lives doesn’t necessarily lead to more accurate judgment about people. Protecting reputation depends on protecting against not only falsehoods but also certain truths. Although we can’t have complete control over our reputations, we must have some ability to protect our reputations from being unfairly harmed. How we are judged by others affects our opportunities, friendships, and overall well-being. Privacy enables people to manage their reputations. ![]() In a sense it is saying: “I care about my interests, but I don’t care about yours.” Even if this doesn’t cause major injury, it demonstrates a lack of respect for that person. Sometimes people’s desires for privacy are just brushed aside because of a view that the harm in doing so is trivial. Of course, the desire for privacy can conflict with important values, so privacy may not always win out in the balance. If a person has a reasonable desire to keep something private, it is disrespectful to ignore that person’s wishes without a compelling reason to do so. And in the wrong hands, personal data can be used to cause us great harm. It can be used as a tool to exercise control over us. Personal data can be used to affect our reputations and it can be used to influence our decisions and shape our behavior. Personal data is used to make very important decisions in our lives. The more someone knows about us, the more power they can have over us. Privacy is a limit on government power, as well as the power of private sector companies. But privacy matters a lot more than that. They see privacy violations as often slight annoyances. Why does privacy matter? Often courts and commentators struggle to articulate why privacy is valuable. ![]() Letter to Deans Re Privacy Law Curriculum.US State Consumer Privacy Laws Whiteboard.Worldwide Privacy Law Whiteboards and Courses.Frequently Asked Questions About TeachPrivacy Training. ![]()
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