Many of the contemporary discussions on privacy are related to technological developments.
So the question of privacy should be rethought in the context of these technologies.
How to understand the ‘concept of Privacy’?
The notions of privacy are based on the need for security and protection.
e.g we believe that our bank balance must be private.
We do not want to divulge certain things about our wealth or life practices since they may be used by others to potentially harm us.
So privacy becomes a way of protecting individuals or groups.
Contemporary technology has made possible many new innovations that have changed the very meaning and significance of privacy.
In any discussion on privacy, there is a deep suspicion of the government and state.
But this suspicion does not extend to technology and its private agents, those that are responsible for the breakdown of the value of privacy in many cases.
How private sector affects privacy?
The greatest challenge to privacy comes from the private sector.
It also stems from an indifference to our own privacy.
Social experiments have shown that people are willing to have private information about themselves made public if they receive some monetary advantage.
e.g When we search for a book or a ticket, we start getting advertisements related to these searches in our supposedly private emails.
Everything is tracked and rerouted.
We have no clue to the amount of information about our private lives that is out in the Web.
Private companies often have rules that protect them from being transparent in hiring policies.
Private groups realise that the greatest market that is perennially available to them is the market of trading information on privacy.
What should be done?
Privacy is not only open to manipulation by the government but even more so by the private sector.
Information about individuals is arguably much more in the private domain today than it is within various governments.
Moreover, the mining of this information is taken up far more tirelessly by the private compared to government institutions.
So any law dealing with Privacy must be wholesome and visionary.
