As defined by Wikipedia privacy is the ‘
ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively’.
While it may appear that the issues surrounding privacy is something new due to the concerns relating to the emerging use of new technologies which includes social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, etc, it is actually not a new concern, rather something that has been extended through the another medium, i.e. through the use of these tools.
These tools are used as a 'medium', another method or way for us to communicate, express ourselves and interact with other people. It simply adds another dimension to issue of privacy which we would have with or without technology.
Privacy has always been a human right, in fact, it is has been defined in the UN charter of human rights as the following:Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
These are some of the valid points raised at the Privacy Victoria conference held on the 21st May 2010 and runs true with a string of other issues which technology has been seen to create, but rather it has only offered another platform and perhaps made it easier to be breached.
Technology itself is basically a tool or an enabler and the underlying issue still lies within our social norms. As what is deemed private information will vary from culture to culture and place to place.
The issue of privacy itself is can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, including the following:
A very interesting note from the conference was: