There is much confusion on the subject of privacy in the digital era. Some ask whether privacy can exist in these times, while others question if it is an outdated, legacy desire of older passing generations. Some notable CEOs such as Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg have told us that privacy is no longer relevant and that we should 'get over it', while privacy and citizen rights groups argue that it is the civil rights issue of the day. At best the topic is extremely polarized. Furthermore there is considerable confusion in defining what privacy actually is nowadays and whether it is either viable or sustainable in the modern era.
In the interest of full disclosure I will say that I believe that privacy is not only fundamental to the human condition, it is also a foundational pillar of civilized society. Those who argue that privacy is dead, antiquated or unnecessary since ‘they have nothing to hide’ for instance, are spectacularly missing the point. As an example if we don’t need privacy then why do we feel the need to use the toilet in isolation? Using the toilet is as natural a process as eating so surely none of us has anything to hide when doing it. Without descending further to make my point, suffice to say privacy is fundamental to human decency. In my view anyone who argues otherwise is misguided at best.
Furthermore, when all is said and done privacy, primarily is all about power. Those who have privacy are empowered and those who don’t are powerless. Unless we approach privacy from this core and fundamental perspective we won’t get anywhere in understanding what privacy does, can or should mean in the digital age talk less of develop the rules and systems needed to preserve it. Privacy, put simply is power. A power without which there can be no meaningful freedom or self sovereignty for citizens or society as a whole. Let me explain.
I became acutely interested in privacy when I first began exploring the potential of using personal data to provide people with incredibly tailored and useful experiences via the internet. It became clear that in order to have hyper personalization we would need to share significant amounts of personal information about ourselves for which the risks were apparent. This led my team to realize very early on that there are fundamental issues of human rights involved when it comes to personal data. This in turn led us to establish an NGO calling for a Universal Declaration of Digital Rights (UD2R), ratified by the UN as a natural extension of human rights as outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). We also saw the need for a self-regulatory framework giving guidance on how companies should use consumer data commercially in a responsible and sustainable manner. In researching digital rights and a commercial framework from this perspective we concluded that both needed to be underpinned by three central principles:
- Privacy
- Freedom
- Ownership
Privacy is your right and ability to restrict who has access to information about you. Freedom relates to your ‘fundamental freedoms’ that the UDHR was designed to protect such as your right to free speech, free thought and free assembly. Ownership is your right to own your data, which we view as your property. This right to own property again is enshrined as an inalienable human right by the UDHR and is protected by international law. If we distill these down further we can summarise as follows:
- Privacy = The ability to control who has access to your data
- Ownership = The right to control who has access to your data
- Freedom = The reason for having control over who accesses your data
Viewed from this perspective we can see that:
Privacy = Ownership + Freedom
I.e. Privacy is the right and freedom to be able to control who has access to your data, or put another way:
Privacy = The right, freedom and ability to control access to your data
What is interesting is that the common theme to these three principles is control: the ability to control, the right to control and the reason for needing the right and ability to control. We thus see that control is what really sits at the heart of privacy.
We could effectively say:
Privacy = Control
So let’s let us look at control. According to Wikipedia: “In social science and politics power is the ability to influence or control the behavior of people.” So this can essentially be said as:
Power = Influence or Control
So by the same logic
Control = Power
So if:
Privacy = Control
and
Control = Power
Then
Privacy = Power Q.E.D
It really is that simple and it is only with this understood as an undeniable truth that we can begin to have a meaningful conversation about what privacy should mean in the digital era and how we can go about protecting and preserving it. When people say that you don’t need privacy, what they are essentially saying is that you don’t need power. That you should effectively become powerless. Perhaps even more worryingly, that you should give up or entrust that very power to them for them to use as they wish.
Isn’t it time to stop the nonsensical debate on whether privacy is in fact important, viable and necessary or not and move to the more important conversation on how we preserve privacy in the digital age and how we balance the needs of society's various stakeholders in developing a privacy/power model and framework that serves the needs and protects the fundamental rights of all?
