Privacy Fundamentals

Ethics in a Computing CultureCh. 3, pp. 75-90

Objectives

• What is privacy?

• How is personal privacy interpreted, and how is it protected by law?

• How is technology adding or removing security?

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Case: Security Class

• When you write email using a school email account, do you consider the exchanged content to be private? Why or why not?

• Is the situation different with company account instead of a school account?

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Case: Michael’s Essay

• When considering the outcome of Michael’s essay submittal, which of the actions led to a violation of Michael’s privacy?

• Which of the actions were unethical, but did not violate Michael’s privacy?

• What if Michael’s personal information had not been included in the paper? – What if only his name, but not his grade, was included?

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Case: Michael’s Essay (cont.)

• Is it unethical for professors to use Plagiarism Preventer without student consent?

• Is it unethical for Plagiarism Preventer to give the full text of students’ works to third parties?

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Defining a “right”

• P. 79 “a right is a liberty or entitlement owed to a person simply because he or she is a person.”

• Negative and positive rights review

The “right” to privacy

Privacy as the “right to be left alone” 1890 Warren & Brandeis definition, pp. 78-9

Justifications:• Instrumental good in supporting

– friendship (marriage), – security (safety), – freedom (autonomy), – health

3 dictionary definitions

a) Seclusionb) Secrecy or concealment

– Judge Posner argues there is no fundamental right to privacy and that people are interested in privacy only to conceal their own wrongdoing or prevent embarrassment

– http://bigthink.com/ideas/1381

c) Freedom from intrusion

p. 77

Defining Privacy: Solove’s Taxonomy of Privacy Problems

• top-down: starting with a single clear definition, and then discovering that not all privacy problems are covered by the definition

• bottom-up: starting with a list of the common kinds of privacy problems and building a definition up

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Solove’s Taxonomy of Privacy Problems(continued)

Constitutional support?

• Is there an explicit Constitutional guarantee of privacy?

• A privacy violation is often coupled or implicated with another Constitutional provision.– Ex. w/ the 1st amendment, religious freedoms

• Many amendments illustrate that the framers of the Constitution believed privacy was something to be protected.– 1st, 9th, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 14th

Constitutional provisions

• Amendment IX: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

• Meaning & intent:

Constitutional provisions cont’d

• Amendment III: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”

• Aimed at addressing:

Constitutional provisions cont’d

• Amendment IV: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

• Aimed at addressing:

Constitutional provisions cont’d• Amendment V: “No person shall be held to answer for a

capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

• Aimed at addressing:

Constitutional provisions cont’d

• Amendment XIV:– Due process clause– Equal protection clause

– Read it here: http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv

• Meaning & intent -

Katz v. US• Katz placed bets in phone booths. • FBI placed bug outside booth to

record conversations• Argument was the as it was

outside it was not a protected space

• Page 88: 1967, S Ct. Held:– “4th Amendment protects people,

not places”– Reasonable expectation of privacy– What one “seeks to preserve as

private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected”.

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

• 1879 CT law prohibited the use of "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception."

• Griswold & Dr. Buxton opened clinic; convicted

• Challenged under the 14th amendment

Kyllo v. US

• 2001 case• Issue: whether use of the

thermal imaging camera constituted a search under 4th amendment and therefore resulting evidence not admissible as there was no search warrant

• http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-8508.ZS.html

Illinois v. Caballes

• US S. S. Ct 2005• Drug sniffing dog as

technology– Does law enforcement

need a warrant to use the dog’s sniffer?

– What is the reasoning?

US v. Antoine Jones (US S. S. Ct 2012)

• Issue: Does the use of a device on a vehicle to monitor movement constitute a search under the 4th Amendment?– Holding: Yes, probable cause and supporting

warrant are needed.• http

://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/supreme-court-ruling-prompts-fbi-to-turn-off-3000-tracking-devices/

• Next issue: Cell phone tracking:– http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/us/police-tracking-of-cellphones-raises-privacy-fears.html?_

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