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Privacy and Freedom
"He was the most important scholar of privacy since Louis Brandeis."—Jeffrey Rosen In defining privacy as “the claim of individuals…to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated,” Alan Westin’s 1967 classic Privacy and Freedom laid the philosophical groundwork for the current debates about technology and personal freedom, and is considered a foundational text in the field of privacy law.
By arguing that citizens retained control over how their personal data was used, Westin redefined privacy as an individual freedom, taking Justice Louis Brandeis’ 19th century definition of privacy as a legal right and expanding it for use in modern times. Westin’s ideas transformed the meaning of privacy, leading to a spate of privacy laws in the 1970s, as well as prefiguring the arguments over privacy that have come to dominate the internet era.
This all new edition of Privacy and Freedom features an introduction by Daniel J. Solove, John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School.
By arguing that citizens retained control over how their personal data was used, Westin redefined privacy as an individual freedom, taking Justice Louis Brandeis’ 19th century definition of privacy as a legal right and expanding it for use in modern times. Westin’s ideas transformed the meaning of privacy, leading to a spate of privacy laws in the 1970s, as well as prefiguring the arguments over privacy that have come to dominate the internet era.
This all new edition of Privacy and Freedom features an introduction by Daniel J. Solove, John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School.
500 pages, Paperback
First published November 11, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 26, 2017
If you are not scared silly and have a million more questions after reading this book, you didn't read very carefully. The most comprehensive overview of privacy in public life today, so super-prescient, even having been written in a time before computers really came into the picture. I think this should be a classic must-read in college classes.
March 18, 2018
As an assignment for a course I'm taking, it's not bad. I finished most of it and enjoyed it most of the time.
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August 7, 2019I decided to read Privacy & Freedom because it is touted as the foundational text for how we view privacy today. At first I was surprised by this reputation as much of the book is a review of post WWII cultural, political and judicial privacy issues and possible reforms.
Why should I care about how many polygraphs were administered by the Washington DC police department in 1965? Or about the investigation by a Senate subcommittee on government operations in 1964? The discussion about technology is very much of that time and seem quaint and innocent from today's view.
But Westin is making it clear that these public conflicts about privacy involve core values of identity, trust, safety, freedom and the individual's relationship to the State. In his concluding chapter he pulls together listening devices, data surveillance, polygraphs and profiling. He relates all that to why we need a serious discussion of how to insure that privacy rights get embedded into all aspects of our society; culturally, in business, through professional conduct and at all levels of government.
Privacy rights by their very nature aren't absolute. People desire to share information about themselves but they want it to be their choice in sharing it. I will tell a joke about my mother but it isn't okay for my friend to share my joke with someone else. Control is central to modern privacy. In the midst of texting I might say something flippant to an intimate. That experience feeds my need for intimacy but I don't want that person to then share that comment without my permission to his Twitter followers.
Being able to freely disclose relevant information about public figures and public issues is essential to liberal democracies. In this country we are willing to risk that some irrelevant information gets shared too. But that vital need must be imperfectly balanced against the need for every individual to feel safe in expressing themselves whether what they share is banal, irreverent, shocking or in bad taste and to control how that expression gets shared.
This balancing act is very hard and it can't be done without conflicts, tensions and some errors along the way. Westin asked in the sixties that we have a serious discussion about how we protect privacy rights and so far that discussion has only been had sporadically and mostly in a glib way. A privacy rights culture isn't something that the government can do alone. Individuals, communities and societies at large must share in the belief that this effort at securing greater privacy rights is essential in making us feel safe, to building greater trust and for promoting our common need for human dignity and respect.
Why should I care about how many polygraphs were administered by the Washington DC police department in 1965? Or about the investigation by a Senate subcommittee on government operations in 1964? The discussion about technology is very much of that time and seem quaint and innocent from today's view.
But Westin is making it clear that these public conflicts about privacy involve core values of identity, trust, safety, freedom and the individual's relationship to the State. In his concluding chapter he pulls together listening devices, data surveillance, polygraphs and profiling. He relates all that to why we need a serious discussion of how to insure that privacy rights get embedded into all aspects of our society; culturally, in business, through professional conduct and at all levels of government.
Privacy rights by their very nature aren't absolute. People desire to share information about themselves but they want it to be their choice in sharing it. I will tell a joke about my mother but it isn't okay for my friend to share my joke with someone else. Control is central to modern privacy. In the midst of texting I might say something flippant to an intimate. That experience feeds my need for intimacy but I don't want that person to then share that comment without my permission to his Twitter followers.
Being able to freely disclose relevant information about public figures and public issues is essential to liberal democracies. In this country we are willing to risk that some irrelevant information gets shared too. But that vital need must be imperfectly balanced against the need for every individual to feel safe in expressing themselves whether what they share is banal, irreverent, shocking or in bad taste and to control how that expression gets shared.
This balancing act is very hard and it can't be done without conflicts, tensions and some errors along the way. Westin asked in the sixties that we have a serious discussion about how we protect privacy rights and so far that discussion has only been had sporadically and mostly in a glib way. A privacy rights culture isn't something that the government can do alone. Individuals, communities and societies at large must share in the belief that this effort at securing greater privacy rights is essential in making us feel safe, to building greater trust and for promoting our common need for human dignity and respect.
March 24, 2024
Moved this one up on my list considering it’s perhaps THE formative book in privacy, written by the namesake of my forthcoming Westin fellowship. After enjoying the first few chapters, the age of the book showed through, and I skimmed through most of the rest. Understandably, Westin’s imagination on privacy violations and surveillance was limited by his era, and I chose not to delve deep in his discussion of polygraph and personality tests. The bookend chapters of the book, however, were engaging and prescient.
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July 14, 2010nonfiction,privacy,ethics
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October 20, 2013Been referenced a lot
For me the first part and second interested me the rest were out of my scoop of interest
For me the first part and second interested me the rest were out of my scoop of interest
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews