Mid-morning. Carol is finishing up washing
and ironing. You want to focus on making corrections, but first you want a
family discussion on the front porch; something topical will do. How about
surveillance and phone cameras? Where's the privacy in either one?
0852
hours. Privacy. What does this mean? What did it ever mean?
You are at Pine Hill Lakes Park looking
northeast from the parking lot. The water tower is on your immediate right.
Quite a breeze today, orndorff, and it was good for a sailing when you were a
younger more adventurous lad of late twenty, early thirty something.
0943
hours. I took a walk over the north end of the earth dam down to the woods and
back up. Carol is continuing her walk with clippers in hand for trimming excessive
honeysuckle over the paths. I have been checking on "privacy". Here's
what seems important (in Wikipedia Offline) to me.
** **
Privacy
Privacy (from "separated from the rest, deprived of something, esp.
office, participation in the government", from privo "to deprive") is the ability of an individual or
group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal
themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered
private differ among cultures and individuals, but share basic common themes.
Privacy is sometimes related to anonymity,
the wish to remain unnoticed or unidentified in the public realm. When
something is private to a person,
it usually means there is something within them that is considered inherently
special or personally sensitive. The degree to which private information is
exposed therefore depends on how the public will receive this information,
which differs between places and over time. Privacy partially intersects
security, including for instance the concepts of appropriate use, as well as
protection, of information.
The right not to be subjected to
unsanctioned invasion of privacy by the government, corporations or individuals
is part of many countries' privacy laws, and in some cases, constitutions.
Almost all countries have laws which in some way limit privacy; an example of
this would be law concerning taxation, which normally require the sharing of
information about personal income or earnings. In some countries individual
privacy may conflict with freedom of speech laws and some laws may require
public disclosure of information which would be considered private in other
countries and cultures.
Privacy may be voluntarily
sacrificed, normally in exchange for perceived benefits and very often with
specific dangers and losses, although this is a very strategic view of human
relationships. Academics who are economists, evolutionary theorists, and
research psychologists describe revealing privacy as a 'voluntary sacrifice',
for instance by willing participants in sweepstakes or competitions. In the
business world, a person may volunteer personal details (often for advertising
purposes) in order to gamble on winning a prize. Personal information which is
voluntarily shared but subsequently stolen or misused can lead to identity
theft.
Privacy, as the term is generally
understood in the West, is not a universal concept and remained virtually
unknown in some cultures until recent times. Most cultures, however, recognize
the ability of individuals to withhold certain parts of their personal
information from wider society - a fig-leaf over the genitals being an ancient
example.
The word "privacy" is
sometimes regarded as untranslatable by linguists. Many languages lack a specific word for "privacy". Such
languages either use a complex description to translate the term (such as
Russian combine meaning of уединение
- solitude, секретность -
secrecy, and частная жизнь -
private life) or borrow English "privacy" (as Indonesian Privasi or Italian la privacy).
Types of privacy
The term "privacy"
means many things in different contexts. Different people, cultures, and
nations have a wide variety of expectations about how much privacy a person is
entitled to or what constitutes an invasion of privacy.
Brief
description of privacy
Physical privacy could be defined
as preventing "intrusions into one's physical space or solitude"
This would include such concerns
as:
preventing intimate acts or hiding
one's body from others for the purpose of modesty; apart from being dressed
this can be achieved by walls, fences, privacy screens, cathedral glass,
partitions between urinals, by being far away from others, on a bed by a bed
sheet or a blanket, when changing clothes by a towel, etc.; to what extent
these measures also prevent acts being heard
varies
video, of aptly named graphic, or
intimate, acts, behaviors or body parts
preventing unwelcome searching of one's
personal possessions
preventing unauthorized access to one's
home, vehicle or man-cave
medical privacy, the right to make
fundamental medical decisions without governmental
coercion or third party
review, most widely applied to questions of contraception
An example of the legal basis for
the right to physical privacy is the US Fourth Amendment which guarantees
"the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures". Most countries
have laws regarding trespassing and property rights also determine the right of
physical privacy.
Physical privacy may be a matter
of cultural sensitivity, personal dignity, and/or shyness. There may also be
concerns about safety, if for example one is wary of becoming the victim of
crime or stalking. Civil inattention is a process whereby individuals are able
to maintain their privacy within a crowd.
Informational
Information or data privacy
refers to the evolving relationship between technology and the legal right to,
or public expectation of privacy in the collection and sharing of data about
one's self. Privacy concerns exist wherever uniquely identifiable data relating
to a person or persons are collected and stored, in digital form or otherwise.
In some cases these concerns refer to how data is collected, stored, and
associated. In other cases the issue is who is given access to information.
Other issues include whether an individual has any ownership rights to data
about them, and/or the right to view, verify, and challenge that information.
Various types of personal
information are often associated with privacy concerns. For various reasons,
individuals may object to personal information such as their religion, sexual
orientation, political affiliations, or personal activities being revealed,
perhaps to avoid discrimination, personal embarrassment, or damage to their
professional reputations.
Financial privacy, in which
information about a person's financial transactions is guarded, is important
for the avoidance of fraud including identity theft. Information about a
person's purchases, for instance, can reveal a great deal about their
preferences, places they have visited, their contacts, products (such as medications)
they use, their activities and habits etc.
Internet privacy is the ability
to determine what information one reveals or withholds about oneself over the
Internet, who has access to such information, and for what purposes one's
information may or may not be used. For example, web users may be concerned to
discover that many of the web sites which they visit collect, store, and
possibly share personally identifiable information about them. Similarly,
Internet email users generally consider their emails to be private and hence
would be concerned if their email
was being accessed, read, stored or forwarded by third parties without their
consent. Tools used to protect privacy on the Internet include encryption tools
and anonymizing services like I2P and Tor.
Medical privacy allows a person
to withhold their medical records and other information from others, perhaps
because of fears that it might affect their insurance coverage or employment,
or to avoid the embarrassment caused by revealing medical conditions or
treatments. Medical information could also reveal other aspects of one's
personal life, such as sexual preferences or proclivity. A right to sexual
privacy enables individuals to acquire and use contraceptives without family,
community or legal sanctions.
Political privacy has been a
concern since voting systems emerged in ancient times. The secret ballot helps
to ensure that voters cannot be coerced into voting in certain ways, since they
can allocate their vote as they wish in the privacy and security of the voting
booth while maintaining the anonymity of the vote. Secret ballots are nearly
universal in modern democracy, and considered a basic right of citizenship,
despite the difficulties that they cause (for example the inability to trace
votes back to the corresponding voters increases the risk of someone stuffing
additional fraudulent votes into the system: additional security controls are
needed to minimize such risks).
Organizational
Governments agencies, corporations,
groups/societies and other organizations may desire to keep their activities or
secrets from being revealed to other organizations or individuals, adopting
various security practices and controls in order to prevent this. Organizations
may seek legal protection for their secrets. For example, a government
administration may be able to invoke executive privilege or declares certain
information to be classified, or a corporation might attempt to protect
valuable proprietary information as trade secrets.
Spiritual and intellectual
The earliest legislative
development of privacy rights began under British common law, which protected
"only the physical interference of life and property." Its
development from then on became "one of the most significant chapters in
the history of privacy law." Privacy rights gradually expanded to include
a "recognition of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and his
intellect." Eventually, the scope of those rights broadened even further
to include a basic "right to be let alone," and the former definition
of "property" would then comprise "every form of possession --
intangible, as well as tangible." By the late 19th century, interest in a
"right to privacy" grew as a response to the growth of print media,
especially newspapers.
Definitions
In recent years there have been
only few attempts to clearly and precisely define a "right to
privacy." Some experts assert that in fact the right to privacy
"should not be defined as a separate legal right" at all. By their
reasoning, existing laws relating to privacy in general should be sufficient.
Other experts, such as Dean Prosser, have attempted, but failed, to find a
"common ground" between the leading kinds of privacy cases in the
court system, at least to formulate a definition. One law school treatise from
Israel, however, on the subject of "privacy in the digital
environment," suggests that the "right to privacy should be seen as
an independent right that deserves legal protection in itself." It has therefore
proposed a working definition for a "right to privacy":
The right to
privacy is our right to keep a domain around us, which includes all those
things that are part of us, such as our body, home, thoughts, feelings, secrets
and identity. The right to privacy gives us the ability to choose which parts
in this domain can be accessed by others, and to control the extent, manner and
timing of the use of those parts we choose to disclose.
A collective
value and a human right
There have been attempts to
reframe privacy as a fundamental human right, whose social value is an
essential component in the functioning of democratic societies. Amitai Etzioni
suggests a communitarian approach to privacy. This requires a shared moral
culture for establishing social order. Etzioni believes that " privacy
is merely one good among many others", and that technological effects
depend on community accountability and oversight (ibid). He claims that privacy
laws only increase government surveillance.
Priscilla Regan believes that
individual concepts of privacy have failed philosophically and in policy. She
supports a social value of privacy with three dimensions: shared perceptions,
public values, and collective components. Shared ideas about privacy allows
freedom of conscience and diversity in thought. Public values guarantee
democratic participation, including freedoms of speech and association, and
limits government power. Collective elements describe privacy as collective
good that cannot be divided. Regan's goal is to strengthen privacy claims in
policy making: "if we did recognize the collective or public-good value of
privacy, as well as the common and public value of privacy, those advocating
privacy protections would have a stronger basis upon which to argue for its
protection".
Leslie Regan Shade argues that
the human right to privacy is necessary for meaningful democratic
participation, and ensures human dignity and autonomy. Privacy depends on norms
for how information is distributed, and if this is appropriate. Violations of
privacy depend on context. The human right to privacy has precedent in the United
Nations Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers." Shade believes that privacy must be
approached from a people-centered perspective, and not through the marketplace.
Privacy law
Privacy law is the area of law
concerning the protecting and preserving of privacy rights of individuals.
While there is no universally accepted privacy law among all countries, some
organizations promote certain concepts be enforced by individual countries. For
example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 12, states:
No one shall
be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the
right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Selected and edited from
Wikipedia Offline - privacy
** **
The above is helpful in directing a
discussion but only after the fact so that it might be better clarified for the
reader. - Amorella
1037
hours. We are home. I remember the many surveillance cameras in London and that
was back in September 2007. I do not remember them from our 2001 June trip.
1255
hours. I had a nap with Jadah (our cats take lots of naps) and I have been
watching one of the TED series on successful underwater camouflage:
Camouflage may be primarily for self-defense or for gathering
nourishment but a side benefit would appear to me to be privacy. It can be a
deception to preserve personal space. The ability to put on an act and then to
do it is a deception I would think we primates are all guilty of at one time or
another. In some ways the intrigue in romance is a slice of this behavior.
Are you speaking from experience, boy? -
Amorella
I
suppose, but I was thinking of Vivian and Merlyn.
How does this present 'camouflage' concept
effect your early learning experience on being both honest and polite? -
Amorella
1317
hours. I don't know that it does, but it might. Living allows for lots of
accumulation of self-deception. What happens to this when among the Dead?
In here, boy, that's the hell of it. -
Amorella
What an enlightening
and dark humor both at once. Makes me smile contented-like though. Who knows
why?
Mid-afternoon.
You had an excellent though late lunch at Smashburgers, what with two sides,
sweet potato fries and steamed veggies you both feel like you had a regular
meal. A storm is brewing to your southwest and it was anticipated. You brought
the green Honda as it has not been recently washed. Carol was asking about a
movie; "Into the Darkness" is still playing so if you go that's
probably what you will see. - Amorella
1503
hours. Still waiting on Carol at Kroger's on Tylersville. I love Star Trek. It
is hard to believe the series is still on. Very cool.
You are home, and you had lots of wind and
rain along the way. You thought the storm was going to head north and it did
but it also headed east -- a typical Ohio spring afternoon thunderstorm. Now,
where are the cats hiding out? - Amorella
After
watching the news you and Carol had her chicken salad with a side of veggies
for dinner, a nice summertime treat. You have been thinking about your own
privacy today and realize that you do have some privacy even though most anyone
can read your heartansoulanmind if sheorhe so desires. - Amorella
The words
in blog and Merlyn books are a translation, Amorella, a dressing, as it were. I
am not so naked kept, as it might seem. The dressing is not a camouflage
though, nor is it a self-deception as far as I can see. I don't know how far
you can see. - rho
The signing shows a bit of your personal
constitution, boy. You stand facing me directly, so to speak, without flinching
and without doubt that you are who you are and can accept this, so to speak,
warts and all just like Cromwell. - Amorella
1945
hours. Now, with doubts, I had to check. I was not sure it was Oliver Cromwell.
** **
The saying "Warts and all" alludes to the instructions of
Oliver Cromwell to Sir Peter Lely, who was painting his portrait, that it
include any imperfections. "I desire you would use all your skill to paint
my picture truly like me and not flatter me at all; but remark all these
roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will not
pay a farthing for it."
From: fwdweekly.com/Issues/1997/0619/splice.html
** **
You doubt me, but in this case of
'translation' not yourself. - Amorella
Strangely
and without the usual odds I feel words connected with anyone of
heartansoulanmind would be a dressing of sorts, a fig-leaf if nothing else. The
private parts of heartansoulanmind stay private, but for G---D or Angel of
G---D. At least this is so imagined within the framework of myself. What else
can I say? Nothing.
Pray tell, what, hypothetically, would G---D
do with such human privacy? - Amorella
Out of
respect as well as a complete lack of knowledge, I will refrain from thought on
the subject. Why do you ask me such a question? What else would you expect me
to say?
The question is a reminder, boy, of how it
was in your heartansoulanmind to be one on one with an Angel of G---D. - Amorella
That was
my error of some twenty-five years ago, but I well remember the intimate
circumstance as I was always in doubt that you were an Angel of G---D, but I
allowed the possibility no matter how remote, that you could be. I had no
choice if I were to keep my mind as well as heart and soul clear.
Then,
as now, I would reason: "let these thoughts go, let me be free of them
because they are not worthy of my humble consideration. I am a primate, a part
of the creation, not a Creator of All Things and Beyond. I shall not be toyed
with in this way.
You gave the concept up, you gave yourself
up, boy, at least psychologically. You then and now have nothing to hide, no
need for a fig-leaf. Do you see how this is? In the Merlyn books and blog this
is how it is for the Dead who are at peace with themselves. They gave
themselves up (turned themselves inside out, so to speak) to find themselves
whole. If nothing else this is a blend of imagination and fiction, a
camouflage, if you will; that allows you to survive among the Living. -
Amorella
I don't
know what to say, Amorella. I am at a loss of words.
In here, I take up the slack, my friend,
while you can still keep your mouth shut. Post. - Amorella
