Alan Westin has offered a well-known definition of privacy as "the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others." This dilemma invites us to think about the tensions between individuals' claims to privacy and the welfare of society as a whole. If privacy is an individual freedom that often gets in the way of social or collective goals- goals like public safety and efficient markets- then we need to make decisions about which goals to prioritize and when.

To effectively weigh these trade-offs, it is important to think about the moral costs associated with the violation of privacy by government and corporate surveillance. Philosopher Michael Lynch has written about the ways in which the surveillance state reduces people to mere objects. Others have raised concerns over unfettered access that big data companies have to our information, using philosophical analysis to push for changes in legislation. Seán Moran has written about the moral and epistemic dangers of mass surveillance technology and its parallels with Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon.

As mentioned in the video, some philosophers have doubted that privacy is valuable in its own right or independently from other valuable things. That is one way to be skeptical about the importance of privacy. In addition, feminist philosophers like Catherine MacKinnon have cautioned that "privacy" is often used to legitimize injustice. By carving out a private sphere that is safe from public surveillance and intrusion, wrongdoers can get a free pass. On this topic, Martha Nussbaum has written about the possible conflict between privacy and sex equality, highlighting a tension that is shared across cultures and societies who may value or conceptualize privacy differently.

For a comprehensive introduction to this concept within philosophical and legal traditions, start with the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on "privacy."

Interested in more examples? Consider whether incursions against privacy are justified in order to reduce crime, combat cyber threats, or to keep students safe in school. These cases were provided to students taking part in the National High School Ethics Bowl program, produced by the Parr Center for Ethics at UNC- Chapel Hill. They explore the ethical implications of various real- world scenarios, adding some questions for reflection. You can discuss them with your friends, peers or classmates.

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