Being Watched: Ethical Issues on Privacy in Life

With the rise of the internet, some people argue that privacy no longer exists. From the 2013 revelations of government surveillance of citizens’ communications to companies that monitor their employees’ internet usage, this argument seems to be increasingly true. Yet, Harvard Law professor Charles Fried states that privacy, “is necessarily related to ends and relations of the most fundamental sort: respect, love, friendship and trust” (Fried 477). However, Fried is not arguing that in a world where privacy, in its most simple terms, is becoming scarce that these foundations of human interactions are also disappearing. Instead, Fried expands on the traditional definition of privacy while contesting that privacy, although typically viewed

As human beings and citizens of the world, everyone values their privacy. It is a right that is often looked over and taken for granted by most. Since the beginning of time, there have been concerns about individuals’ rights to privacy and their personal information remaining confidential. Our founding fathers had concerns about this which is why, “…this right has developed into

Throughout the introduction of his essay, Solove pin points on building his ethos and stating his credibility, as well as makes an ethical appeal to the audience. To aid to the credibility of his plea, he quotes fellow privacy experts, authors, and scholars throughout his whole introduction. These quotations enable Solove to conceal with the audience and speak to his credibility and trustworthiness that he has.

Privacy is what allows people to feel secure in their surroundings. With privacy, one is allowed to withhold or distribute the information they want by choice, but the ability to have that choice is being violated in today’s society. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who sacrifices freedom or liberty will eventually have neither.” And that’s the unfortunate truth that is and has occurred in recent years. Privacy, especially in such a fast paced moving world, is extremely vital yet is extremely violated, as recently discovered the NSA has been spying on U.S. citizens for quite a while now; based on the Fourth Amendment, the risk of leaked and distorted individual information, as well as vulnerability to lack of anonymity.

As a growing topic of discussion, privacy in our society has stirred quite some concern. With the increase of technology and social networking our standards for privacy have been altered and the boundary between privacy and government has been blurred. In the article, Visible Man: Ethics in a World Without Secrets, Peter Singer addresses the different aspects of privacy that are being affected through the use of technology. The role of privacy in a democratic society is a tricky endeavor, however, each individual has a right to privacy. In our society, surveillance undermines privacy and without privacy there can be no democracy.

The topic of this paper is privacy. It will talk about the ethical and legal reasons for maintain privacy. The audience for this paper is high school level teachers in a school with one-to-one devices for every student.

For my research paper the topic I have chosen to write about is privacy as a constitutional right. With this topic, I was asked is there really an inherent right to privacy and what does the right entail? I was also asked to analyze privacy in the work place and how an organization’s policy should conform to the law and best ethical practices. Privacy can be a trick subject since the laws vary and some are still being developed today. As the workplace and world in general continue to evolve, so do policies and laws. I will answer all these questions in the following paragraphs.

The words, “Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say” were said by Edward Snowden who is a computer professional in America. Similarly, the essays “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” “Web Users Get as Much as They Give,” and “Facebook Is Using You” from Nicholas Carr, Jim Harper, and Lori Andrews respectively points out that the internet privacy is good and bad. However, the articles by Carr and Andrews are based on the negative side of the internet privacy, which means that the internet privacy is not good. On the other hand, Harper’s article is based on the positive side of the internet privacy, which means that the internet privacy is good and scary, but people need to be careful of their own information and browsing histories, and websites. Jim Harper’s essay is more relevant and reasonable than the Nicholas Carr and Lori Andrews’s essays. However, Harper seems more persuasive to readers because he believes that the internet is good if people use it in a right way, whereas Carr and Andrews believe that the internet is not good at all.

There are several ways to evaluate the term of privacy since it has an extensive and diverse history cultures. Privacy has been discussed by philosophers, anthropologists, journalists, legal specialists, governments, and organizations. The definition of privacy has changed over the years based on moral, legal, and social rules. Nowadays, technological innovations have overtaken everyone’s privacy, and the government and companies can track people in ways that were once impossible. However, the debate between the good and the bad of privacy was notorious in Greek society by the period of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. LaFollette states “Socrates and Aristotle defend the view that a life of intellectual and private pursuit was a worthwhile life…

Today, individuals are sacrificing privacy in order to feel safe. These sacrifices have made a significant impact on the current meaning of privacy, but may have greater consequences in the future. According to Debbie Kasper in her journal, “The Evolution (Or Devolution) of Privacy,” privacy is a struggling dilemma in America. Kasper asks, “If it is gone, when did it disappear, and why?”(Kasper 69). Our past generation has experienced the baby boom, and the world today is witnessing a technological boom. Technology is growing at an exponential rate, thus making information easier to access and share than ever before. The rapid diminishing of privacy is leaving Americans desperate for change.

The current controversy that needs addressing is a dating website has been asked to hand over user information to the public health department because of a STD outbreak on the site, even though their policy is against it. Normally, the health department needs a warrant to get this information but because the department is not able to the company that hosts the chatroom needs to make the decision to give out personal user information. The main proposal being presented is the company should give out the user’s personal information because if it does not the STD could continue to spread without the carriers even knowing. So, the department believes that for the betterment of public health it is okay to breach privacy in this instance.

Privacy either encourages or is a necessary factor of human securities and fundamental value such as human embarrassment, independence, distinctiveness, freedom, and public affection. Being completely subject to mutual scrutiny will begin to lose self-respect, independence, distinctiveness, and freedom as a result of the sometimes strong burden to conform to public outlooks.

With the advent of mobile phones, iPad and other smart technology, accessing information across the web has become very easy. You can sit at home and pay your phone bills, or talk to someone from across the world. Along with these benefits, it has also become easier to get access to information that would otherwise be restricted. In recent years, debates have taken place regarding the concern of the privacy of information that is uploaded on the internet, or that is taken from it. This research paper aims at comparing the controversies that surround the concept of privacy in the digital age.

It is understood that there are a number of definitions of privacy. Intellectuals have published works with varying content throughout the years. In 1890, Warren and Brandeis’ article gathered that privacy is the “right to be let alone” (Samuel Warren). Additionally, William Parent suggested that “privacy is the condition of not having undocumented personal knowledge about one possessed by others” (Moore, Privacy Rights: Moral and Legal Foundations). On the other hand, Julie Inness illustrated that privacy is “the state of possessing control over a realm of intimate decisions, which include decisions about intimate access, intimate information and intimate actions” (Moore, Privacy Rights: Moral and Legal Foundations). Although the definitions vary, the observations and publications regarding privacy indicate that individuals have the right to privacy, along with its protection. More importantly, how do we decide what these privacy rights entail and what principles should be incorporated under its protection? The understanding of one’s privacy and what should be protected is rooted in a society’s moral and social norms. What a culture does out of habit or custom and what their environment was like at the time, eventually shape how they view privacy as well as the laws they create. First, norms and habits undergo certain changes through the political, social, technological and economic evolution in a society. Thus, privacy laws are affected or may undergo some

Privacy has grown to become an intensely complex and important human rights topic in the information age. The right to privacy underlines human dignity. One of the first privacy laws can be traced back hundreds of years, to 1361, when England enacted the Justice of the Peace Act, which allowed the arrest of eavesdroppers and peeping toms.1