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Social and Political Dimensions of Privacy
Author(s) -
Westin Alan F.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/1540-4560.00072
Subject(s) - information privacy , privacy policy , privacy by design , politics , government (linguistics) , internet privacy , political science , personally identifiable information , public relations , privacy laws of the united states , privacy software , right to privacy , sociology , business , law , computer science , linguistics , philosophy
This article provides a framework for analyzing privacy in modern societies, defining information privacy and describing three levels that structure the values assigned to privacy. After describing a contemporary privacy baseline (1945–1960), these concepts are applied to social and political privacy developments in three contemporary eras of steadily growing privacy concerns and societal responses across citizen‐government, employee‐employer, and consumer‐business relationships in 1961–1979, 1980–1989, and 1990–2002. Each period is described in terms of new technology applications, changing social climates, and organizational and legal developments. Effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on privacy balances are analyzed and predictions for future privacy developments are presented. The relationship of articles in this issue to the author's framework is noted throughout.