Chapter 5: Information Privacy

The concept of controlling access to personal information and maintaining a zone of inaccessibility regarding one's activities and data.

Computers, databases, and the internet have made gathering, sharing, and combining information about individuals easier than ever, potentially diminishing privacy.

Privacy is related to limited access to a person's information, both physical and informational.

Actions that infringe upon an individual's right to privacy and human dignity.

Excessive privacy can hinder societal progress by potentially concealing illegal or harmful activities or failing to provide necessary social support.

The process of collecting and analyzing large sets of data to create profiles of individuals or groups.

Privacy is a right that benefits society, but is not a fundamental right.

Modern life, despite technology, might offer more privacy than past eras, due to factors like decreased extended family living, and personal transportation.

Building a good reputation often comes at the cost of reduced privacy.

The Sullivans secretly monitoring their nanny through a camera in their home demonstrates a conflict between privacy and parental concern.

A rule utilitarian would likely consider the negative consequences of widespread nanny monitoring (reduced job satisfaction, turnover, potentially poorer quality care) to outweigh any benefits.

In the eyes of social contract theory, the nanny has a right to reasonable privacy inside her workplace (the home), and secretly monitoring her is therefore wrong.

Tiny chips implanted in dogs' ears containing owner information, enabling lost dog recovery.

Radio-frequency identification tags used in humans, storing medical info and acting as a digital payment.

Many mobile apps gather location data and sell it to advertisers and data brokers.

A company that analyzes data from various mobile apps, accessing data from > 500,000 apps.

Users log into sites/apps with their Facebook accounts, allowing app access to personal Facebook data.

An integrated communication system in cars providing emergency, security, and navigational services.

A car component that records driving data (speed, brake pressure, seatbelts) for post-accident investigation.

Digital medical records, quicker and cheaper for data sharing among caregivers, leading to potentially lower costs and improved care quality.

Records of an individual's assets, debts, and payment history, sold to lenders.

Organizations that track and sell credit information.

Advertisements sent only to potential customers likely to purchase.

Companies that gather and sell consumer data.

Identifying voters most likely to support a candidate, using various data.

Using social media data for various purposes, from promotions to investigations.

Options for controlling how your information is shared on social networks.

A Facebook advertising tool that shared user purchase information with friends, initially operated on an opt-out basis.

Malls tracked shoppers' movements by monitoring their cell phone locations to analyze shopping patterns.

Certain apps, like Path, uploaded users' iPhone address books without explicit permission.

Instagram proposed changes to their terms of service, concerning the use of photos in advertisements without permission.

A policy where users are automatically enrolled in a service unless they explicitly opt-out.

A policy where users must actively choose to participate in a service.

Money generated from advertisements displayed for gaining user attention and interest in a product or service.

A coordinated effort to raise awareness and encourage action through online channels.