Privacy in Context

1
Privacy in Context

• Helen Nissenbaum
• Department of Culture and Communication
• New York University
• http//www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum
• Research supported by NSF-ITR Collaborative
  Grant Sensitive Information in a Wired World
  (PORTIA)

2
Traditional Model

• Private vs. Public Places
• Private vs. Public Information

3
IT Privacy Threats

• Tracking
• RFID tags, EZ Pass, online-tracking, video
  surveillance, DRM, etc.
• Aggregation, analysis, profiling
• ChoicePoint, Census, Credit Bureaus, etc.
• Publication
• Court records onliine
• Combinations E.g. Warren and Brandeis, 1890
• The problem

4
RFID chip in U.S. Passports by mid-2005

• The passport's RFID chip will contain all
  personal data found on the information page of
  current passports, as well as a digital image of
  the bearer's face an ID number and a digital
  signature archived in a central government
  database State Department says there is no need
  to encrypt the data on the RFID chip since it is
  identical to the data listed on the information
  page, and unencrypted data can be read faster
  using relatively simple technology. (Erin Biba,
  Medill News Service 3/21/05)

5
Puzzles

• Paradoxes
• say one thing, do another
• New Media exhibitionism Cams, blogs, etc.
• Cultural and historical differences

6
Goal of work

• Justificatory framework an analytic model (or
  theory) for reasoning through hard cases and
  puzzles.

7
Layers of Analysis

• Bottom Interest politics e.g. http//www.epic.org
  
• Top Universal Human Rights Values
• Middle Social systems, institutions, cultures
  contexts. E.g. Walzers Spheres of Justice,
  Bourdieus fields, Luhmans systems, Razs
  normative systems.

8
Norms of Information Flow

• Norms of Appropriateness
• Governing types/categories of information
• Norms of Transmission
• Governing flow of information from agent to agent
  
• Volunteered
• Inferred
• Mandated
• Third party confidentiality
• Commercial exchange
• Reciprocal vs. one-way
• Dessert
• Etc.

9
Contextual Integrity

• CI is preserved when norms of appropriateness
  and flow are respected it is violated otherwise.

10
Application HeuristicDetecting Change

• What is the governing context?
• What type of information?
• According to what transmission principles (flow
  and actors)?
• Red flag if CI is violated.

11
The Problem of Conservatism

• Opportunity Costs
• Tyranny of the Normal
• e.g. Kyllo vs. United States (2001)
• Novel contexts blogs? AIM?

12
Adjudicating Change

• Normal practice may not be norm driven
• Reform? When should norms be revised?
• Value/goals/ends of the context (e.g. healthcare)
• Moral and political considerations
• Harm (e.g. stigma, discrimination, identity
  theft)
• Justice, power, distribution of goods (tyranny?)
• Freedom, autonomy, democracy, property
• Revolution? When change threatens context
• Confidentiality in psychotherapy
• Anonymous voting in democratic elections

13
http//www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum