Privacy is the right to keep certain information private, but the rise of technology has led to widespread questions about protected rights. Workplace privacy issues revolve around the rights of the company versus the personal rights of the employee. The internet has created new privacy issues, such as targeted ads and data selling. Privacy concerns also relate to the availability of personal data and its potential to allow for discrimination. The government’s treatment of individual privacy rights is often justified in the name of crime detection and the protection of the general welfare. The creation and regulation of privacy laws is predicted to be a major legal problem of the 21st century.
Privacy, simply put, is the right to keep certain information private and protected from other parties. Although some governmental doctrines, such as the US Constitution, grant certain specific rights to privacy, the growing abundance of easily accessible information technology and growing concerns about security and legality have led to widespread questions about protected rights to privacy. These questions seem to seep into almost every aspect of everyday society, be it at school, at work, dealing with the government, or even buying a product in a store.
Privacy issues in the workplace commonly revolve around the rights of the company versus the personal rights of the employee. While an employer has a right to prevent fraud and ensure worker efficiency, some believe there is an ethical gray area where it is easy for a company to invade a worker’s personal privacy. Many experts argue that a company has the right to monitor corporate computer use and to have access to corporate mail servers, but not the right to read personal emails or access private computers used for work.
The invention of the internet and the rise of computers has led to a massive creation of new privacy issues for many people. Email servers, for example, often place targeted ads in a person’s email account based on words found in the account’s emails. While many companies insist that only computer programs, not other people, have access to the information used to target these ads, many remain suspicious and believe this to be an invasion of privacy.
Due to the lack of enumerated privacy laws and the internet, privacy issues regularly crop up across the news industry. When purchasing a product online, customers may need to enter personal information, including financial information. Some businesses may sell contact information, purchase records, and income data to third parties, resulting in unwanted spam, junk mail, and the ever-present possibility of identity theft.
One of the biggest privacy concerns relates to the availability of personal data and its potential to allow for discrimination. For example, if a company were to have open access to personal health data, would firing an employee with a history of depression, even if the condition did not affect job performance, constitute a violation of personal rights? Would it be reasonable or a violation of privacy rights to insist that depressed employees take antidepressants to keep a job? Questions like these are a major reason why government privacy guidelines are so vital.
Students have long struggled with privacy issues at school. In the United States, many view randomized drug testing of student athletes as a serious invasion of privacy and a violation of legal rights. However, school administrators often insist on the school’s right to ensure that no violations of the school’s drug policy occur. Privacy issues in the school are often magnified by the fact that underage students have no legal right to vote and can be seen as victims of a system where equal rights or representation are not guaranteed.
The potentially scariest privacy issues concern the government’s treatment of individual privacy rights. The ability of government officials to wiretap phones, log movements, and gain access to personal data is often justified in the name of crime detection and the protection of the general welfare. In many countries, government organizations must prove that a crime is suspected before surveillance begins. However, the heightened fear of terrorism in the 21st century has made this privacy gray area even darker, and some believe that government-sanctioned invasion of privacy is part of a slippery slope to tyranny.
While many people believe that there should be a legal right to privacy, that right is often ill-defined and can vary widely depending on local laws. The European Union insists that members regulate privacy according to basic agreements. Canada is often regarded as a model of individual privacy rights, with specific laws on protection against government invasion of privacy, as well as on the protection of electronic data. Privacy issues are an ongoing struggle that becomes more complicated as new computer technologies are discovered. Many experts predict that one of the major legal problems of the 21st century will be the creation and regulation of privacy laws.
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