In order to understand the importance of respecting the privacy of everyone, it is important for one to recall the memorable lines from the United States of America Declaration of Independence “We hold these truthsthat all men are created equal they are powered by the God with certain unalienable rights” Critical analysis of the above statement shows that, privacy has become one of the biggest battlefields in the digital age not only in America but to the entire world. The main areas of concerns include; employer monitoring the employees in the workplace or outside, information brokers selling the company secret information to the public and employer negatively publicizing co-worker personal information. These forms of privacy breach bring the question; do we have a morally acceptable level of privacy in this kind of society? If yes, how best can it be obtained and what does the right entails?
I would want to argue that privacy must be respected; despite the benefits that come with such a “wired” society. The debates over this contentious question have ranged for many years. According to the statistical survey, over 50% the world population believes that they have the right to privacy. Professor Daniel J. Solove in his work argues that, these rights are relatively hard attain and may not have any universal ground in any world the constitution. In his work, he continues to denote that privacy has been one of the disarray and jungle concepts yet needs to be respected. Therefore, Daniel and his co-researchers have worked around the clock to determine the core characteristics of the privacy that may be universally accepted and found out that it is an issue that requires a great understanding and respect across all the social backgrounds. Globally, privacy has acted as guiding principle to human co-existence. Therefore, making the subject of privacy as thought to many scholars in a highly context-specific fashion of respect (Johnson 23). However, at all cost, the privacy of an individual must be respected.
Over decades, privacy has been one of the highly subjective philosophical concepts that need to be respected. The notion has been constantly morphing with evolving societal attitudes, cultural and technological values. Most of the philosopher’s unanimously agree that the concept requires high level of respect and understanding in the society. Therefore, America as a nation may not achieve a coherent definition of the concept and determine on how to constitute it as a formal human right of respect. However, everyone, employer, and nation will agree that citizens need to have the right to privacy. In this context, it is vital that we pursue privacy in the same manner we pursue other important human virtues such as happiness. In fact, studies reveal that pursuing privacy is as vital to achieving happiness for most people. This trend shows that almost everybody needs to have his time and space. This approach will provide one with an opportunity to control personal information, be free in their thoughts and keep secrets that they greatly value (William 102).
The framework in the paper gives everyone in the society a provocative sense of respecting other people`s privacy. It makes the right to privacy as uncontroversial issue to all. In America, the widely acceptable and stable privacy rights have been related to unambiguous physical rights. These rights are the right to property and right to the body. All these rights have been limited to state action and private parties. This limitation has made the government to limit obligation in supporting the citizens for their rights of privacy. These responsibilities have created both psychological and commitment costs among individuals and the employees. Therefore, as America is contemplating on the scope of privacy rights in this information age, it is sensible enough for citizens to find appropriate privacy solution methods and mechanism outside the law and respect one another. These solutions will help them to find technological advances that continue to positively affect their private lives and respects them (William 112).
Research studies indicate that technological advances have made the society breach some of these unalienable rights. These technological advances sometimes have made unintended people to breach into other people`s personal information. The potential for abuse of this personal information is one of the main issues not only to the offended individual but also the organization. Research studies reveal that every new technology launched is labeled as “creepy.” This approach demarcates its ability to extend the ads to its advertisement mechanisms. Jim Adler, one of the renowned General manager and a Private officer of Data systems at Intelius, denoted how the creepiness of these technological innovations have struck the people`s private lives. He notes that these forms of technology have acted as a mainstay in the conversation along the social networking sites (Johnson 67).
Documentary records indicate that, in 2004, when google launched its Gmail service, the world greeted the idea World hostility. Some private advocates and individuals questioned the capability of their private entities. In fact, majority believed that google would access and read their private emails. Therefore, they pushed for better security and restrictions on algorithmic sections. Statistical analysis indicates that, after the adoption of a new privacy service, the Gmail users increased to over 425 million people. This trend has been adopted by various online services and enabled them to control significant sectors of the economy by respecting their private lives. Different nations have taken actionable legal trumps that are to be followed in case of breach of contract by these digital companies. These violations may include, trespass, arbitration and many more (Johnson 105).
The concepts of privacy have also conflicted with other well-defined human rights such as speech and press rights. The concept can be observed in the Right to Privacy law of the modern American constitution. This law mainly helps to protect the citizens from all forms of businesses and new technologies that gather and disseminate personal information. Before the enactment of the law, the press was overstepping in almost all directions and providing columns of gossip on individual issues. This forms of gossip inflicted the citizens with pain and distress causing more psychological pain. This regime was enacted to control the press and create decency in the communications field (William 156).
In conclusion, in light of seeking a solution to the complex problem of privacy protection, it is necessary that all the concerned bodies respect the privacy of one another. In this sense, the constitutional values that respect privacy are considered useful. The respect provide by the privacy levels will ensure a proper co-existence of individuals not only on the technological levels but also at personal capacity.
Works Cited
Johnson, Deborah. Computer Ethics 4th Rev. Ed. S.l.: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. 1-200
William H. Shah. Business Ethics 8th Rev Ed pp. 98-200
