Macnish, K orcid.org/0000-0003-4510-3049 (2018) Government Surveillance and Why Defining Privacy Matters in a Post-Snowden World. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 35 (2). pp. 417-432. ISSN 0264-3758
Abstract
There is a long-running debate as to whether privacy is a matter of control or access. This has become more important following revelations made by Edward Snowden in 2013 regarding the collection of vast swathes of data from the Internet by signals intelligence agencies such as NSA and GCHQ. The nature of this collection is such that if the control account is correct then there has been a significant invasion of people's privacy. If, though, the access account is correct then there has not been an invasion of privacy on the scale suggested by the control account. I argue that the control account of privacy is mistaken. However, the consequences of this are not that the seizing control of personal information is unproblematic. I argue that the control account, while mistaken, seems plausible for two reasons. The first is that a loss of control over my information entails harm to the rights and interests that privacy protects. The second is that a loss of control over my information increases the risk that my information will be accessed and that my privacy will be violated. Seizing control of another's information is therefore harmful, even though it may not entail a violation of privacy. Indeed, seizing control of another's information may be more harmful than actually violating their privacy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016, Society for Applied Philosophy. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Macnish, K (2016) Government Surveillance and Why Defining Privacy Matters in a Post-Snowden World. Journal of Applied Philosophy. ISSN 0264-3758, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/japp.12219. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. |
Keywords: | privacy; control; access; Inness; security; Hermansson; Hansson; Wolff; GCHQ; NSA |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Mar 2016 12:35 |
Last Modified: | 21 May 2018 13:47 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/japp.12219 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/japp.12219 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:95799 |