Question

What are the major issues concerning privacy in the information age? Could you identify at least two situations where we notice privacy invasion? Is there any remedy to the privacy invasion in the modern information age?

Answer 1

The issues concerning privacy are of various types, however, it is helpful to focus on just four. These may be summarized by means of an acronym --

PAPA.

P

Privacy: What information about one's self or one's associations must a person reveal to

others, under what conditions and with what safeguards? What things can people keep to

themselves and not be forced to reveal to others?

A

Accuracy: Who is responsible for the authenticity, fidelity and accuracy of information?

Similarly, who is to be held accountable for errors in information and how is the injured party

to be made whole?

P

Property: Who owns information? What are the just and fair prices for its exchange? Who

owns the channels, especially the airways, through which information is transmitted? How

should access to this scarce resource be allocated?

A

Accessibility: What information does a person or an organization have a right or a privilege to

obtain, under what conditions and with what safeguards?

The common types of privacy invasion situations are:

1. Appropriation of Name or Likeness----> Appropriation of name or likeness laws protect your right to control the use of your own identity for a business or economic purpose. Typically, these claims involve the unauthorized use of a person's picture or name. While state laws vary, the elements necessary to prove appropriation.
2. False Light --->False light laws protect your right to not have potentially misleading or damaging information about yourself publicly disclosed. This includes the disclosure of information that may be true but is nonetheless misleading or damaging. For example, it may be an invasion of privacy if a caption published with a photograph in a news article about a protest describes a person as a participant, when in fact, the person was only observing the protest.
3. Public Disclosure of Private Facts---->Public disclosure of private facts laws protect your right to keep the details of your private life from becoming public information. For example, publicizing facts about a person's health, sexual conduct, or financial troubles is likely an invasion of privacy. While state laws vary.

Some of the Remedy to the privacy invasion in this Digital Age are as follows:

1.)Limit the personal information you share on social media

2.)Browse in incognito or private mode

3.)Use a different search engine

4.)Use a virtual private network

5.)Be careful where you click

6.)Use quality antivirus software