A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Between public and personal information - not prohibited, therefore permitted
Authors: Kainu Ville M.A., Koskinen Jani S.S.
Editors: Bottis Maria
Conference name: 5th International Conference on Information Law and Ethics, ICIL 2012
Publication year: 2013
Book title : Privacy and Surveilance. Current aspects and future perspectives
First page : 45
Last page: 59
ISBN: 978-960-562-168-1
Abstract
The right to privacy is an expression of the right to one’s own person. As a result of known
profit seeking corporate behaviour enabled by information technology this right is undermined.
This behaviour is legal in most jurisdictions. This paper argues that the regulatory response
should expand the sphere of privacy in order to meet the ethical criteria of well justified law.
Alarmingly, there are many ethical problems concerning digital information and privacy without
breaking any law. Many corporations claim the rights to information which users put in to their
systems. The main purpose of corporations is to create profit for shareholders, which drives
them to exploit the user information.
The Grey Area exists between the regulatorily set limits of spheres of private and public
information regarding an individual. The limits are penetrable, but noticeably in only one
direction, from private to grey area or even public information. The individual is enticed to
make their private information enter the grey area without full understanding of the
implications. The service provider may and have used such information in their own business
without the user fully realizing the extent of such exploitation.
This paper proposes that the correct response, vis-a-vis Habermas, is to expand the sphere of
privacy to minimize the grey area. The proposed solution is to grant the individual
Datenherrschaft (mastery over information) over their private information. Thus it is the
individual, not the service provider, who retains the mastery over their own information.
The right to privacy is an expression of the right to one’s own person. As a result of known
profit seeking corporate behaviour enabled by information technology this right is undermined.
This behaviour is legal in most jurisdictions. This paper argues that the regulatory response
should expand the sphere of privacy in order to meet the ethical criteria of well justified law.
Alarmingly, there are many ethical problems concerning digital information and privacy without
breaking any law. Many corporations claim the rights to information which users put in to their
systems. The main purpose of corporations is to create profit for shareholders, which drives
them to exploit the user information.
The Grey Area exists between the regulatorily set limits of spheres of private and public
information regarding an individual. The limits are penetrable, but noticeably in only one
direction, from private to grey area or even public information. The individual is enticed to
make their private information enter the grey area without full understanding of the
implications. The service provider may and have used such information in their own business
without the user fully realizing the extent of such exploitation.
This paper proposes that the correct response, vis-a-vis Habermas, is to expand the sphere of
privacy to minimize the grey area. The proposed solution is to grant the individual
Datenherrschaft (mastery over information) over their private information. Thus it is the
individual, not the service provider, who retains the mastery over their own information.
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