Privacy Quotes

“When our security is under siege, so – inevitably – is our liberty. A world in which our every movement is observed erodes the very freedom this snooping is often calculated to protect. Naturally, we need to ensure that the social costs of the means employed to enhance security do not outweigh the benefits.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction

“One view is that privacy consists of ‘limited accessibility’ – a cluster of three related but independent components: secrecy: information known about an individual; anonymity: attention paid to an individual; and solitude: physical access to an individual.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction

“Westin’s ubiquitous and influential idea conceives of privacy as a claim: the ‘claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others’.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction

“In addition to its significance in liberal democratic theory, privacy stakes out a sphere for creativity, psychological wellbeing, our ability to love, forge social relationships, promote trust, intimacy, and friendship.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction

“At the most general level, the idea of privacy embraces the desire to be left alone, free to be ourselves – uninhibited and unconstrained by the prying of others. This extends beyond snooping and unsolicited publicity to intrusions upon the ‘space’ we need to make intimate, personal decisions without the intrusion of the state.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction

“The concept of privacy has become too vague and unwieldy a concept to perform useful analytical work. This ambiguity has actually undermined the importance of this value and encumbered its effective protection.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction

“The manner in which information is collected, stored, exchanged, and used has changed forever – and with it, the character of the threats to individual privacy. But while the electronic revolution touches almost every part of our lives, it is not, of course, technology itself that is the villain, but the uses to which it is put.”
― Raymond Wacks, Privacy: A Very Short Introduction