Online Privacy
Privacy gets defined as an individual’s ability to keep their social situation’s data away from unauthorized people and have absolute control over it, making it possible for them to express themselves selectively. Online privacy is where a person is able to keep their online activity private. Privacy is an important aspect of life as it gives a person control over what happens in their social life. It helps a person secure information that is of a sensitive nature because when a breach of sensitive data happens, it could have consequences that are damaging. An example of breach of online privacy happened with Facebook when it got hacked, leading to allegations that Cambridge Analytica used the information to manipulate the electoral in 2015 (Common, 2018). The breach happened when the personal information for Facebook users got harvested and used as a weapon in providing analytics in the Donald Trump campaign. Privacy is a fundamental human right that everyone is entitled to, and the law protects everyone against unlawful or arbitrary interference with their privacy. The fact that the privacy right gets recognized as a right that is universal to every human being gets provided for in article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. This declaration states that “No one shall get subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, home, family or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his reputation and honor. Everyone has the right to the law’s protection against such attacks or interference.”
Privacy is every person’s responsibility in the sense that they have to ensure that they keep their information safe by protecting it using any means possible. For online privacy, an individual can make use of encryption software to create strong password protections against breach of their online data. However, there are instances where criminals can get access to other people’s online information by illegal means and with the intention of committing a crime. In such situations, the government has to step in and take responsibility to protect the citizen’s fundamental right to privacy and keep them safe from criminals. In some instances, individuals have to take an extra step in ensuring the privacy of their data. This is especially important for large organizations as they can establish surveillance systems to monitor their data-sharing practices to ensure that their private information gets protected from a potential breach. The misuse of the information provided by employees to an organization impacting the trust and integrity of their relationship amounts to a violation of the privacy right (Martin, 2018). Breach of privacy in an organizational setting also happens in instances where hackers gain access to company information about how they run their affairs and sells it to an organization that is competing against it for them to understand their trade secrets and use it to gain a competitive advantage over them.
The laws concerning privacy vary in different countries, depending on the provisions in their legislation. There are some countries where the privacy right does not get explicitly provided for in their laws. However, it gets provided for under other provisions that are legally recognized under the law. Some of these countries include India, the United States, and Ireland. In the United States, this privacy right gets established within the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. The privacy right in America got established by the Roe v Wade case in the year 1972 which contributed significantly due to the controversy that surrounded the case. In India, the privacy right gets provided for and protected as part of the right to personal liberty and life, in article 21 of the Constitution of India. However, some countries like Switzerland and Norway have strict provisions upholding the privacy right, which is an important right that all human beings are entitled to. For this reason, interference with this right attracts serious penalties from the perpetrators that engage in the violation of any person’s privacy.
References
Common, M. F. (2018). Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: let this be the high-water mark for impunity. LSE Business Review.
Martin, K. (2018). The penalty for privacy violations: How privacy violations impact trust online. Journal of Business Research, 82, 103-116.