Essay On Privacy And Privacy

Privacy, Trust and Autonomy

Despite all the controversy and disagreements, most of the populous would agree that on an individual level, privacy is our space to be ourselves as well as to define ourselves through autonomy and protecting our dignity. Our interactions with others can define the level of our relationships with them through the amount of privacy we can afford in the relationship. As we age and immerse ourselves into society, we gain a sense of confidence and security from our privacy. A sense that others know only what we tell them and we know only what they tell us in exchange. What we fear is what others can access and what they might do if they knew of our vulnerabilities. Maintaining and keeping our vulnerable aspects private, we develop a false sense of personal safety from the outside.

Privacy is a value we hold close and dear as a society. We do not advertise to others of our weaknesses or our confidential personal interactions. Most of the population does not want to get involved or want to know about other private issues. So privacy can protect the rest of us from being exposed of too much personal information. Autonomy allows us to speak out about injustices and ability for self-expression. The irony is that we feel safest when we know everything about them but they know nothing about you. Here is where a fine line is drawn between privacy and security. Privacy is built from a level of trust. As one’s trust level increases through ongoing relations, the self-guarded privacy begins to fade. When privacy and/ or trust have been compromised then relations are broken and the safe-guards are back in place.

The use of surveillance equipment has caused these safe-guards to exist. When used, sends a subconsci...

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...f surveillance might serve to have real impact on people’s life chances owing to such institutionalized prejudice. For example, a recent study found that CCTV operators were disproportionately monitoring the young, the male and ethnic minorities “for no obvious reason” (Norris & Armstrong 1999). That is, in the absence of suspicious behavior they were choosing to focus their attention on these categories of people. The result is that anyone falling into these categories is more likely to be caught if doing something wrong than someone else, thus perpetuating the stereotype. Furthermore, as these groups were being watched more frequently than others, they were more likely to be seen as doing something suspicious. This in turn could lead to disproportionate response rates by security forces on the ground, contributing to a sense of alienation and rejection by society.