Showing papers on "Information privacy published in 1980"

An Introduction to Privacy in Economics and Politics

Abstract: THE enormous increase in interest in privacy in our society is evident in the public press and in the statute books In some respects this interest in privacy is paradoxical, for the average citizen has more privacy-more areas of his life in which his behavior is not known by his fellows-than ever before He lives in a large city, where no one is his keeper; in the small towns of former times privacy was won only by the cleverest people He works in large organizations, and indeed he (or, more likely, some self-appointed spokesman) laments his alienation He can shake off most of his past simply by moving-to the South, the West-and no earlier generation except the immigrant waves before World War I was as mobile If then the privacy issue is a real issue, and not one of those contrived issues that march across the headlines for a time, it probably exists because of the vast growth of government Governments (at all levels) are now collecting information of a quantity and in a personal detail unknown in history Consider: it would have been quite impossible for a public official in 1860 to learn anything of the income of a citizen chosen at random without leaving Washington, DC Today the files of Social Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the microfilms of banking transactions, and other sources are potentially available to answer the question, to say nothing of the fact that perhaps one family in three or four receives payments directly or indirectly from the federal government In addition the government has become the major instrument by which the information-collecting and information-using practices of private citizens are controlled Technology has enormously changed the mechanics of gathering and disseminating information, but it is politics and economics that direct the uses of the machinery Three topics in this large subject are explored here: the nature of privacy in economic behavior; the economic effects of

The concept of privacy.

Abstract: There is a worldwide concern growing regarding the increasing potential threats to the personal privacy of individuals caused by technologies and governments. The international response of governments has been to draught comprehensive privacy legislation in order to protect their citizen's personal information and to enable their citizens to have control over their personal information. In South Africa, the right to privacy is protected by both Section 14 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Common Law, but at this stage no formal privacy legislation is in place to enforce fair data protection principles. A new Data Privacy Bill is in the process of being draughted by the South African Law Commission and it is taking into account South Africa's unique political and social context as well as international demands made by the global economy. The prime influences acting upon the new Data Privacy Bill are the mandate in the Constitution, the EU Data Protection Directive and the Ubuntu worldview. Ubuntu can be described as a community-based mindset in which the welfare of the group is greater than the welfare of a single individual in the group. In this article, we argue that the EU Data Protection Directive is one of the best articulated privacy laws in existence today and the Ubuntu philosophy has been pressed into service very successfully in openUP (July 2007) diverse arenas in South Africa. This paper argues that both influences will be seen in the future Data Privacy Act, but that the EU Data Protection Directive's influence will be pre-eminent.

Privacy and the Right to Privacy

Abstract: The right to privacy is one of the rights most widely demanded today. Privacy has not always so been demanded. The reasons for the present concern for privacy are complex and obscure. They obviously relate both to the possibilities for very considerable enjoyment of privacy by the bulk of people living in affluent societies brought about by twentieth-century affluence, and to the development of very efficient methods of thoroughly and systematically invading this newly found privacy. However, interesting and important as it is as a socio-philosophical inquiry, the concern of this paper is not with why privacy has come to be so highly prized, but rather with whether it is rightly prized, and if so, when and why. This means that my concern will be with what privacy is, what is its domain, whether there is a right to privacy, and, if so, whether it is an ultimate, basic, albeit, a prima facie right, or simply a conditional right.

Privacy and the Economics of Information

Abstract: IT is clear from the papers in this volume that the law and economics of privacy ranges over a large number of issues. These include the matter of property rights in trade secrets, the question of protection against public exposure of personal and domestic information, and the extent to which parties to a commercial transaction can inhibit (or force) disclosure of information that they deem harmful (or helpful) to their interests. There are common elements running through all-these issues, two of which appear to me especially important. First, all of these issues have to do with the production and dissemination of information and, second, all involve the problems of externalities that are inherent in any analysis of the economics of information. In this paper, I will be concerned with the relationship of externalities and the production of information. Many papers dealing with the economics of privacy either argue or treat as axiomatic the proposition that information is a good, and hence a public policy that aims to increase the amount of information with little or no increase in the cost of producing that information is desirable. Somewhat less explicitly, the following propositions, or versions of them, are sometimes taken to be always and everywhere true. (1) If the cost of producing good X is increased, less of good X will be produced. (2) If the cost of producing good X is decreased, there will be a Paretian welfare gain. (2a) If the cost of producing good X is increased, there will be a welfare loss to the producer who experienced the cost increase.

A progress report on information privacy and data security

Abstract: The role and importance of information privacy in the modern society are briefly described. A number of recent law cases are then examined to illustrate how privacy cases are currently being adjudicated in the United States and to identify the limits of currently available privacy protection. Finally, certain issues are raised regarding the available techniques for insuring data confidentiality and security.

Freedom of information, privacy, and official secrecy: The evolution of federal government information policy concepts

Abstract: At present, the ‘freedom of information’ concept has particular appeal to various democracies seeking to realize or refine a popular right to government information. The American experience with this construct provides both a significant theoretical model and a legislative realization of this idea. However, drafting imperfections and political tampering with the policy purpose of the Freedom of Information Act are apparent in the legislative history of the Federal statute and, hopefully, can be avoided by other nations pursuing this type of law. In addition, the United States has developed privacy of information and has sought to reconcile it and official secrecy with the ‘freedom of information’ concept. While the former is regarded as a valuable symbiont the latter appears to be a dangerous competitor to the effective realization of ‘the people's right to know’.

PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY: The Federal Initiative

Abstract: Individual privacy rights are considered in the context of our increasingly computerized society. Guidelines for the maintenance of confidentiality of health care records are reviewed, and the provisions of four bills under consideration by Congress are examined. The dangers of legislation that authorizes government access to mental health treatment data are underlined, and preventive action on the part of mental health professionals is urged.

An Overview of Transborder Data Flow Issues

Abstract: Included in the scope of the term "transborder data flows is the transmission over computer-communicational systems of automated data to be processed and stored in foreign data processing systems. A number of issues, including privacy protection and data security, arise in various transborder data flow (TDF) situations and are discussed in this paper, especially the potential effects on TDF of national privacy protection laws and pending international agreements. Sets of associated technical requirements are examined.

The confidentiality of medical records: the right to privacy versus the public interest.

Abstract: The confidentiality of medical records is discussed in the context of the individual's right to privacy, as yet undefinable in degree, and the often conflicting demands for access to these records for purposes considered to be in the interests of society. The proposed use of a unique personal identifying number for medical records which facilitates linkage to administrative data systems is critically examined.

An update on personnel recordkeeping and employee privacy.

Abstract: "Privacy," says the President, "is a permanent public issue." So permanent, in fact, that the federal Privacy Protection Study Commission made 34 recommendations covering employee recordkeeping, all of which deserve personnel's attention. Our author also focuses on General Electric's all-out privacy compliance program, which may well prove a good model for other corporations to follow.

Transborder data flow: legal persons in privacy protection legislation

Abstract: In view of current proposals to establish treaties and privacy protection guidelines on transborder data flows, it has become necessary that the United States adopt a position on whether "legal person" be included in such treaties and guidelines The following discussion attempts to evaluate the various arguments and concludes that the United States, based upon its own definition of privacy, regulation of "legal persons," and economic and foreign policy, must maintain that "legal person" be excluded from privacy guidelines

Computers: Data privacy: The European community grapples with protecting individual rights in the midst of rampant computer progress

Abstract: The matter of invasion of privacy has become a touchy issue in the computer age, and Europe is moving to resolve questions of human rights with uniform legal guarantees. The emerging branch of law is called data protection. Already, some people are questioning whether the law will ever be able to catch up with reality. For example, the notion of `data bank', which appears in some laws, is already becoming inadequate; it is now possible to manipulate data instantaneously without a permanent record. As a result, French law now uses the term `data treatment'. A further example: with networks and intelligent terminals for data processing, rules intended originally for specialists now must address the public at large. For this very reason, an ongoing dialogue between lawyers and data-processing experts is essential.

Federal Legislative Proposals for the Protection of Privacy

Abstract: Previously, privacy rights had to be litigated under one of the four recognized tort claim of actions. With the advent of the computer age, it was argued that new causes of actions should be created to supplement the individually recognized privacy rights of the people. At the time this article was written, several privacy related bills were before congress. The note examines the benefits of the bills proposed, and the (justified) failure of the proposals to consider a single federal information data bank due to its inability to safeguard privacy. It also synopsizes the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights’ findings on these issues as well as the privacy rights afforded by the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974.