Learning Takeaways Week One

1    1.  Definition of Privacy

·      Privacy is a human right to be left alone, to be anonymous, and to control access and use of personal information, space, and identity.  

·      Privacy has many different meanings depending on the person, place and circumstance.

·      Privacy may be taken away if the needs of society outweigh the value of an individual’s privacy.

2    2.  Technology and Privacy

·      The advancement and increased use of technology has jeopardized privacy in some ways. For example, surveillance cameras now record many public spaces, and personal cellphones give almost everyone the ability to photograph or record whenever they want. The internet has allowed people to publicly share their identities and other personal information, although often whatever they share cannot be removed from the web.

·      Technology can also be used to protect privacy in some ways. For example, email messages can be encrypted, and ephemeral messaging systems can be used. People can also use fake names to post on the internet to preserve their anonymity.

3    3. Legal Sources Protecting Privacy

·      Constitutional Protection: privacy is protected by the U.S. Constitution, most notably in the 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th amendments. Overall, these amendments protect a person’s home as a place of privacy, their right to free speech, and their right to limit access to themselves. There are two tests used to determine if privacy has been violated or not:

o   The Katz, or “reasonable expectation of privacy” test, which depends on facts about a given situation having to do with the actions someone did or didn’t take to make something private

o   The Third Party Doctrine, which implies that if someone willingly gives their personal information to a third party, then that information can be shared by the third party

·      Statutory Protection: a law expressly protecting a certain type of personal information such as FERPA or HIPAA.

·      Common Law Protection: a law established by a judge that has the same power as a statute.

·      Contractual Protection: contracts that cover privacy cannot be violated, such as an agreement between a user and an online social media platform.

Personal Takeaways

After one week of class I’m already becoming more aware of how often I share my personal information, and of situations I find myself in where I give up some privacy. For example, I’m a Resident Advisor so I live where I work, which means that my private life often intersects with my professional life based solely on the physical location of the two. This week I also got a better grasp on different types of privacy and how each one is treated differently, such as surveillance versus sharing personal information on the internet. One final concept that I think will become more important as the semester progresses is the difference between the government and a civilian invading someone’s privacy. The internet and cellphones have allowed people to have more access to other people’s information, so while it is important to ensure the government doesn’t overstep, I think our attitudes about boundaries between ourselves matter as well.