Privacy

The interactive domains of new media present many challenges with respect to privacy, which is defined not only as the right to be free from intrusion and interruption, but also as the right to have control over one's personal information. Some e-commerce practices present a threat to online users' privacy, while technological developments both create and prevent privacy intrusions. Policy and legislation at domestic and international levels have been created to protect personal privacy, while privacy advocates and groups have been promoting the idea of privacy as a fundamental human right.

In their famous 1890 Harvard Law Review article, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis defined privacy as “an individual's right to be left alone.” The U.S. legal concept of privacy, as it has developed over the years, maintains four prevalent concepts relating to the violation of individual privacy: 1) trespass, or unreasonable intrusion into another's seclusion while gathering information; 2) theft, or appropriation of another's name or likeness for commercial purposes; 3) libel, slander, or injury to reputation, such as being portrayed in a false light; and 4) public disclosure of embarrassing facts.

Challenges to privacy in the information age are many. Globalization, media convergence, and the malleability of multimedia have created a fascinating and often conflicted landscape, where the definition of individual privacy is simultaneously being eroded and transformed by technological means. Some critics contend that we have entered an era of surveillance, where everyday actions, from surfing the Web to registering our automobiles, have come under the eye of Big Brother. A common characteristic of the new media is their two-sided nature; while they have the ability to empower citizens, they also make citizens more vulnerable to surveillance and manipulation through tools such as cookies, the personal information gathered by search engines, and workplace email surveillance.

E-commerce practices present unique challenges to privacy, as data mining of personal information and demographics is proliferating at a rapid rate. Increasingly, the privacy of online consumers is not well protected in electronic transactions, as companies rely on cookies to monitor their visitors' online activities. Most Web browsers are configured to reveal every Web site people visit, as well as the IP (Internet protocol) addresses that may identify individual users. This information can be—and often is—collected and stored to create detailed profiles of user tastes and preferences in shopping, reading, and other habits, all of which are of great value to corporations that rely upon mass marketing. The risk of adding this information to commercial databases has become the focus of consumer activism.

Email is a particularly insecure form of communication, and ethical and legal issues concerning the privacy of email are quite complex. Email can create an electronic trail that can discourage secure communications. Although email might be considered private communication between the sender and the recipient, in reality it can easily be forwarded and exchanged to others without the consent of the original sender. Users of email can be subjected to breaches of confidentiality; for instance, employers can easily monitor email.

A variety of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) have been developed. Cryptography, a technique for transforming ordinary text (plaintext) into unintelligible text (ciphertext) through encryption, [Page 379]is a popular way of ensuring the privacy and security of electronic communications. Cryptography can improve identification and access control through password encryption; protect confidentiality and data integrity by encrypting the data; and improve non-repudiation services through encrypted electronic signatures.

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