The Value of Privacy

If this definition of privacy seems reasonable, then we can ask why we would not want certain intru­sions like those in the hypothetical example. Many reasons have been suggested, and you may sym­pathize with some more than others. Four are pro­vided here. The first concerns the kinds of feelings that one would have about certain things being known or observed—one's thoughts, bathroom behavior, or sexual fantasies, for example. It may well be that one should not feel emotions like shame or unease at such things being known. Perhaps we have these feelings simply as a result of social expectation. Nevertheless, many of us do have these negative feelings.

A second reason why we might want certain things kept to ourselves is our desire to control information about us and to let it be known only to those to whom we choose to reveal it. Such con­trol is part of our ability to own our own lives. We speak of it as a form of autonomy or self-rule. In fact, the loss of control over some of these more personal aspects of our lives is a threat to our very selfhood, some say. For example, in his study of what he calls "total institutions" such as prisons and mental hospitals, Erving Goffman described the way that depriving a person of privacy is a way of mortifying (literally killing) the self.⁶¹ Having a zone of privacy around us that we control helps us define ourselves and mark us off from others and our environment. This reason for the value of pri­vacy is related to both the third and fourth reasons.

Third, privacy helps in the formation and con­tinuation of personal relations. We are more inti­mate with friends than with strangers, and even more so with lovers than with mere acquain­tances. Those things about ourselves that we con­fide in with those closest to us are an essential part of those relationships. According to Charles Fried,

"privacy is the necessary context for relationships which we would hardly be human if we had to do without—the relationships of love, friendship, and trust."⁶² Sexual intimacies are thus appropriate in the context of a loving relationship because they are privacy sharings that also help to establish and further that relationship.

Fourth, we want to keep certain things private because of the risk that the knowledge might be used against us to cause us harm. Screening proce­dures in particular come to mind here. Drug screen­ing, HIV testing, or genetic disease scans all make information available to others that could result in social detriment. For example, we could be harmed in our employment or our ability to obtain insur­ance. The problem of data banks is also at issue here. Our medical records, records of psychiatric sessions, histories of employment, and so forth could be used legitimately by certain people. However, they also may be misused by those who have no business having access to them. In a par­ticularly problematic recent case, the managed care company that was paying for the psychological counseling of one patient asked to inspect his con­fidential files. The psychologist was concerned. "The audit occurred, they rifled through my files," he said, and "made copies and went. But it changed things. He (the patient) became more concerned about what he was saying.... A few visits later he stopped coming."⁶³ Another case is also illustrative of the harm that can be caused by the invasion of privacy. In 1992, someone obtained a copy of the hospital records of a person running for Congress and sent them anonymously to the press. The New York Post published the material, including notes about this person's attempt to kill herself with sleeping pills and vodka. In spite of this, the woman won the election; still, she sued the hospital for invasion of privacy⁶⁴

Дата добавления: 2015-08-05