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2018 | Buch

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The Classical Liberal Case for Privacy in a World of Surveillance and Technological Change

verfasst von: Dr. Chris Berg

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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How should a free society protect privacy? Dramatic changes in national security law and surveillance, as well as technological changes from social media to smart cities mean that our ideas about privacy and its protection are being challenged like never before. In this interdisciplinary book, Chris Berg explores what classical liberal approaches to privacy can bring to current debates about surveillance, encryption and new financial technologies. Ultimately, he argues that the principles of classical liberalism – the rule of law, individual rights, property and entrepreneurial evolution – can help extend as well as critique contemporary philosophical theories of privacy.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

Abstract

The introduction outlines the privacy challenges faced in contemporary society. It considers the large amounts of data collected by firms, states, and digital equipment in our everyday lives, and how the collection of that data makes us vulnerable to revealing personal information about ourselves. The introduction also introduces classical liberalism and classical liberal thought about privacy and technological change and presents a brief outline of the classical liberal case for privacy.

Chris Berg

2. Classical Liberalism and the Public-Private Division

Abstract

This chapter provides a survey of classical liberal thought as it applies to privacy. Classical liberalism is a political philosophy that focuses on the rights of individuals protected by limited, democratic government under the rule of law and the market economy. The chapter surveys the key ideas underlying classical liberalism as they relate to questions about privacy: individualism, individual rights, property rights, and limited government. The chapter then looks at how three classical liberal authors—John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, and Benjamin Constant—conceived the role of privacy in their political and philosophical frameworks. Finally, the chapter explores the general dichotomy between the public and private domains, and how classical liberalism understands the significance of the private domain.

Chris Berg

3. A Classical Liberal Approach to Privacy

Abstract

This chapter presents a classical liberal approach to understanding privacy. There are a near infinite array of definitions and approaches to privacy, beginning with Alan Westin’s information control theory. The chapter briefly surveys some of the critiques of Westin’s approach and presents an ‘information exchange’ model, where control over personal information is analogized to property rights. Unwanted privacy violations can be considered the expropriation of economically valuable information. The chapter then explores the range of institutional possibilities available to control these expropriations using the institutional possibility frontier framework.

Chris Berg

4. The Ancient Home

Abstract

This chapter explores how privacy was understood in the prehistoric and ancient world. Many historians have emphasized that ancient ideas of privacy were distinct from modern ideas of privacy. The chapter considers that question through the lens of the home—how dwellings provided a barrier between the public space and private domain, and how spaces within the home were structured to expose or protect inhabitants from each other. Beginning with the first dwellings—pit houses in the Neolithic era—the chapter traces the development of single room homes through to complex Athenian and Roman houses. The chapter argues that while the ancients’ ideas of privacy were different to ours they were not as sharply opposed as some scholars have suggested. In the ancient world as much as the modern, the ability to protect personal privacy is a function of wealth and prevailing technologies.

Chris Berg

5. The Origins of Modern Privacy

Abstract

This chapter considers the origins of privacy in the early modern era. It contrasts an earlier historical consensus around the early modern development of individualism, home privacy, and interiority with recent scholarship that argues these ‘modern’ notions of privacy were both more ambiguous and came later. Rather than focusing on the growth of individualism as a basis for privacy, the chapter looks at the creation of the unitary nuclear family. In the early modern era families became more concrete and private. Yet the removal of family life from social observation also meant that subjugation within the family—such as that defined by the ‘separate spheres’ doctrine—could result in undesired privacy, particularly for women.

Chris Berg

6. Utopia and State Power

Abstract

This chapter surveys how utopian socialists and revolutionary societies focused their energies on the boundaries between public and private life. It first surveys a series of utopian writers—Plato, Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Charles Fourier, and Edward Bellamy—to see how their ideal societies wanted to reshape the relationship between families and the community, as well as relationships within families themselves. The chapter then looks at how private life fared under revolutionary regimes such as Russia under the Soviet Union and Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. By looking at how these states sought to undermine privacy and private life, we can see how those costs were felt.

Chris Berg

7. Technology Extends the Home

Abstract

New technologies both create new privacy dilemmas and expand privacy expectations. This chapter looks at four economic-technological changes since the nineteenth century—the penny post, the telegraph, the telephony, and digital communications such as email—to see how these new ways to communicate have interacted with privacy. Cheap, ubiquitous letters contributed to the idea that private communication could be an extension of the private home—a domain of intimate relationships—but was vulnerable to surveillance. Telegraphy and early telephony involved third parties to process and establish communications. New privacy technologies—such as cryptography and automatic switchboards—were invented to tackle these privacy risks. Finally the chapter considers electronic communication systems such as email and how many of the these historical patterns are still evident today.

Chris Berg

8. Privacy and the State

Abstract

Governments require vast quantities of information for planning, regulatory compliance, and law enforcement. This chapter looks at the effect that this data collection, use, and storage has for privacy. In the exchange model of information used in this book, government surveillance is an involuntary exchange akin to taxation. The chapter first considers the ‘smart cities’ movement and the use of information for urban planning. It then considers how this sort of data use relates to the common claim that only people with information to hide from the state have anything to fear from surveillance. The chapter then looks at the concern of many law enforcement agencies that the privacy protections of device and end-to-end encryption mean that much human interaction is ‘going dark.’

Chris Berg

9. Privacy, Property, and Discovery

Abstract

This chapter considers the institutions of control of personal information used by private firms. The chapter begins by considering the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became enforceable in 2018. The GDPR is the most ambitious attempt to regulate the use of personal data and provides consumers with a range of rights about how data may be used and how consumers might withdraw their consent for data use. However, the regulatory approach taken by the GDPR falls far short of a property rights regime in personal data, preventing consumers from exploiting and monetizing information about themselves. The chapter contrasts this approach with an evolutionary approach, focused on case-by-case legal change and emphasizing education, empowerment, and enforcement of existing laws.

Chris Berg

10. Privacy and Speech

Abstract

This chapter argues that there is a close relationship between freedom of speech and privacy. Private spaces offer a protected domain in which individuals can test and experiment with ideas between intimates. The perception of being observed or surveilled acts as a limitation on free expression. The chapter also considers one widely discussed tension between free speech and privacy—the exposure of details about the private life of public figures. The chapter concludes that where these tensions exist, keyhole solutions that target behaviour that occurs in the act of violating privacy is likely to be superior to solutions that limit free expression.

Chris Berg

11. Financial Privacy

Abstract

This chapter explores two dimensions of financial privacy, the demise of Swiss banking secrecy and arguments for the elimination of physical cash. Financial records are among the most sensitive forms of personal data, containing intimate details about individual daily activities and preferences. The chapter first looks at the history and trajectory of Swiss banking secrecy. Swiss banking secrecy formally developed in order to protect bank account holders from possibly intrusive prudential regulatory surveillance. In response to heavy pressure from high tax jurisdictions, the Swiss have been forced to reduce those secrecy protections. However the evidence suggests that banking secrecy was more valued for privacy rather than tax evasion reasons. The chapter then considers the arguments, most prominently aired by Kenneth Rogoff in his book The Curse of Cash, to eliminate large denomination physical currency. It finds that there are many other reasons apart from the desire to hold cash for criminal purposes to seek an anonymous payments system.

Chris Berg

12. The Future of Privacy

Abstract

This chapter considers the future of privacy. New privacy-enhancing technologies offer new opportunities for privacy protection. The chapter first considers the complex anonymity properties of cryptocurrencies, concluding that the ability of first- and second-generation cryptocurrencies to protect financial privacy has been overstated. The chapter then considers newer cryptocurrencies like ZCash which exploit cryptographic techniques such as zero-knowledge proofs. These technologies offer new possibilities for privacy protection across a wide range of domains. The chapter surveys other new approaches to privacy protection and concludes with some speculation about the shifting balance between technology and surveillance.

Chris Berg

13. Conclusion

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the arguments presented so far.

Chris Berg

Backmatter

Titel: The Classical Liberal Case for Privacy in a World of Surveillance and Technological Change
verfasst von: Dr. Chris Berg
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-96583-3
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96582-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96583-3

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Über dieses Buch

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

2. Classical Liberalism and the Public-Private Division

3. A Classical Liberal Approach to Privacy

4. The Ancient Home

5. The Origins of Modern Privacy

6. Utopia and State Power

7. Technology Extends the Home

8. Privacy and the State

9. Privacy, Property, and Discovery

10. Privacy and Speech

11. Financial Privacy

12. The Future of Privacy

13. Conclusion

Backmatter

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