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Category
Privacy
Summary
Privacy (UK, US) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.
The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of appropriate use and protection of information. Privacy may also take the form of bodily integrity.
There have been many different conceptions of privacy throughout history. Most cultures recognize the right of an individual to withhold aspects of their personal lives from public record. The right not to be subjected to unsanctioned invasions of privacy by the government, corporations, or individuals is part of many countries' privacy laws, and in some cases, constitutions.
With the rise of technology, the debate regarding privacy has expanded from a bodily sense to include a digital sense. In most countries, the right to digital privacy is considered an extension of the original right to privacy, and many countries have passed acts that further protect digital privacy from public and private entities.
There are multiple techniques to invade privacy, which may be employed by corporations or governments for profit or political reasons. Conversely, in order to protect privacy, people may employ encryption or anonymity measures.
The word privacy is derived from the Latin word "privatus", which means set apart from what is public, personal and belonging to oneself, and not to the state.
Privacy has historical roots in ancient Greek philosophical discussions. The most well-known of these was Aristotle's distinction between two spheres of life: the public sphere of the polis, associated with political life, and the private sphere of the oikos, associated with domestic life. Privacy is valued along with other basic necessities of life in the Jewish deutero-canonical Book of Sirach.
In the United States, more systematic treatises of privacy did not appear until the 1890s, with the development of privacy law in America.
As technology has advanced, the way in which privacy is protected and violated has changed with it.
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