Privacy and the Communitarian Self

<p>Contemporary philosophical debates about privacy turn on important questions regarding selfhood. Minimally, someone who endorses the possibility of informational privacy is committed to the idea that there are ‘selves’ or ‘persons,’ and that it is possible to decide what information relates to them and how. I argue that most popular accounts of privacy rely on a liberal conception of the self. In the Kantian tradition, persons are characterised as ‘transcendental subjects,’ always partly prior to, and unencumbered by, their particular circumstances. Communitarians argue, however, that the liberal notion of the self offers only a partial account of personhood. It is not possible to reason as a transcendental subject because, in various ways, our sense of self is defined by circumstance. Our connections to various communities – such as a family, religion, or state – as well as the shared representations and meanings we rely on to gain self-knowledge, are indispensable parts of what it is be a person. Drawing on the work of Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor, and Alisdair MacIntyre, I argue that to properly account for our want of privacy and its moral significance, we must look to the complex relationships between a person, their personal information, and the communities they inhabit.</p>

Privacy and the Communitarian Self

<p>Contemporary philosophical debates about privacy turn on important questions regarding selfhood. Minimally, someone who endorses the possibility of informational privacy is committed to the idea that there are ‘selves’ or ‘persons,’ and that it is possible to decide what information relates to them and how. I argue that most popular accounts of privacy rely on a liberal conception of the self. In the Kantian tradition, persons are characterised as ‘transcendental subjects,’ always partly prior to, and unencumbered by, their particular circumstances. Communitarians argue, however, that the liberal notion of the self offers only a partial account of personhood. It is not possible to reason as a transcendental subject because, in various ways, our sense of self is defined by circumstance. Our connections to various communities – such as a family, religion, or state – as well as the shared representations and meanings we rely on to gain self-knowledge, are indispensable parts of what it is be a person. Drawing on the work of Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor, and Alisdair MacIntyre, I argue that to properly account for our want of privacy and its moral significance, we must look to the complex relationships between a person, their personal information, and the communities they inhabit.</p>

Voices of Caregivers: Key Demands Towards AI-driven Home Monitoring in Community-based Dementia Care

While most people with dementia prefer to live at home for as long as possible, this also puts more pressure on both their informal and formal care network. To provide support in home-based dementia care, there is growing interest in technology that allows caregivers to remotely monitor health and safety of people with dementia. Novel generations of these technologies are using non-wearable, pervasive sensors coupled with algorithms to continuously collect and model meaningful in-home information. However, while these self-learning monitoring systems develop rapidly, their target users’ views and demands are still insufficiently mapped out. To identify possible barriers to acceptance and ways to overcome these, we conducted a scenario-based study, including semi-structured interviews with informal caregivers (n=19) and focus groups with home care professionals (n=16) of community-dwelling people with dementia. Inductive qualitative content analysis revealed that both groups of caregivers were concerned about the informational privacy of their care recipient with dementia, information overload, and ethical issues related to dehumanizing care. Identified demands mainly centered around how to overcome these barriers. We identified several demands related to specific functionalities, user experience factors, services surrounding the technology, and integration into the existing work context. Most notably, caregivers highlighted the importance of introducing AI-driven in-home monitoring technologies in a way it prevents them from feeling undervalued. In conclusion, our findings can help to inform the development of more acceptable and unobtrusive in-home monitoring technologies to support home-based dementia care.

"A Robot Is Watching You”: Humanoid Robots And The Different Impacts On Privacy

Robots, particularly the ones that belong to a special type of robotic technologies designed and deployed for communicating and interacting with humans, slip into more and more domains of human life - from the research laboratories and operating rooms to our kitchens, bedrooms, and offices. They can interact with humans with facial expressions, gaze directions, and voices, mimicking the affective dynamics of human relationships. As a result, they create new opportunities, but also new challenges and risks to peoples’ privacy. The literature on privacy issues in the context of Social Companion Robots (SCRs) is poor and has a strong focus on information privacy and data protection. It has given, however, less attention to other dimensions of privacy, e.g. physical, emotional, or social privacy. This article argues for an “evolving” or “transformable” notion of privacy, as opposed to the “elusive” concept of privacy elaborated by leading privacy theorists such as Daniel J. Solove (2008) and Judith J. Thomson (1975). In other words, rather than assuming that privacy has a single core or definition (as defined, e.g., in Warren and Brandeis' 1890 paper), it maintains that it is important to conceptualize privacy as distinguishable into various aspects, including informational privacy, the privacy of thoughts and actions, and social privacy. This inductive approach makes it possible to identify new dimensions of privacy and therefore effectively respond to the rapid technological evolution in AI technologies which is constantly introducing new spheres of privacy intrusions.

Addressing the privacy paradox on the organizational level: review and future directions

The discrepancy between informational privacy attitudes and actual behaviour of consumers is called the “privacy paradox”. Researchers across disciplines have formulated different theories on why consumers’ privacy concerns do not translate into increased protective behaviour. Over the past two decades multiple differing explanations for the paradox have been published. However, authors generally agree that companies are in a strong position to reduce consumers’ paradoxical behaviour by improving their customers’ informational privacy. Hence, this paper aims at answering the question: How can companies address the privacy paradox to improve their customers’ information privacy? Reviewing a sample of improvement recommendations from 138 papers that explore 41 theories in total, we determined that companies can generally align their privacy practices more closely with customers’ expectations across 4 inter-connected managerial processes: (1) strategic initiatives, (2) structural improvements, (3) human resource management, and (4) service development. The findings of this systematic literature review detail how companies can address both the rational and irrational nature of the privacy decision-making process. Furthermore, we propose a dynamic model able to identify weaknesses and strengths in companies’ privacy orientation.

INFORMATION PRIVACY: A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH

The paper attempts to expose the basic concepts of informational privacy reflected in Western jurisprudence, as well as to outline the author's vision of the content and scope of informational privacy, to distinguish the relevant powers from which this right consists, to reveal its place and role from the standpoint of system-structural approach. It is noted that in the modern scientific literature, dedicated to ensuring the privacy and respect for his / her privacy, clearly distinguishes two main approaches to understanding the informational advantage - broad and narrow. Proponents of the narrow approach consider the primes solely in the informational aspect, and other constituents (physical, visual, phonetic privacy, etc.) tend to relate to the content of other fundamental rights. However, one group of authors interprets information privacy as the right of the person to control their personal data, while the second group considers it more rational and efficient to consider information pricing as the right of ownership of personal data. Attempting to unite both camps of supporters of a narrow interpretation of the information front is the Restricted Access / Limited Control (RALC) theory. Proponents of the broad-based approach view information primacy as important, but only one of the many substantive elements of constitutional law in favor. At the same time, the authors' exit beyond the information sphere when considering the content of the precedence can be considered progressive and more consistent with the essence of this right and its purpose in ensuring personal freedom and autonomy. In view of the author, revealing the content of the right to privacy, it should be borne in mind that the object of this right includes several areas (aspects), in each of which a person may be in different states of privacy, and the privacy itself has certain measurements. On this basis, information is regarded by the author as an element of the constitutional right of privacy, distinguished by the aspects of privacy and the form (method) of its objectification. Unlike other aspects of privacy, the informational aspect is detached from the physical body of the individual and exists independently, and relevant information continues to exist even after the death of the individual. Therefore, even the death of a person does not make sense of the information associated with that person, and sometimes even enhances its value and significance. It is noted that unlike other aspects of the case, information privacy has no states (such as loneliness, intimacy, anonymity, etc.); it merely provides information protection for such states and does not allow them to be disclosed without the consent of the entity itself.

Internet privacy in Canada: a public interest perspective

Issues about informational privacy have emerged in tandem with the escalating increase in nformation stored in electronic formats. Data protection is a pressing issue not only because files of personal information are being kept in greater detail and for longer periods of time, but also because the data can be retrieved and compared or matched without delay, regardless of geography. While defenders of information technology cite efficiency and safety among the countervailing benefits, concerns from an increasingly tech-savvy public have introduced a sense of urgency to demand tough legislation. Although many studies have provided evidence of online privacy concerns, few have explored the nature of the concern in detail, especially in terms of government policy for our new online environment. Bill C-6, Canada's recent legislative action, has provided a practical basis from which to appraise governments' role in privacy protection. With this in mind, the paper will be divided into two parts. Part one will be undertaken to: (A) evaluate the arguments of critics as well as defenders of contemporary record-keeping practices and the philosophical conceptions of privacy, which underlie them; and, using these themes (B) provide a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of Bill C- 6, examining the ways in which policy makers have begun to treat privacy as both a commodity and a secondary adjunct to business activity. Part two of the paper, purposes a series of recommendations or, more specifically, a framework for Bill C-6 that would, more effectively, protect individual privacy from private entities, who collect online data.

Internet privacy in Canada: a public interest perspective

Issues about informational privacy have emerged in tandem with the escalating increase in nformation stored in electronic formats. Data protection is a pressing issue not only because files of personal information are being kept in greater detail and for longer periods of time, but also because the data can be retrieved and compared or matched without delay, regardless of geography. While defenders of information technology cite efficiency and safety among the countervailing benefits, concerns from an increasingly tech-savvy public have introduced a sense of urgency to demand tough legislation. Although many studies have provided evidence of online privacy concerns, few have explored the nature of the concern in detail, especially in terms of government policy for our new online environment. Bill C-6, Canada's recent legislative action, has provided a practical basis from which to appraise governments' role in privacy protection. With this in mind, the paper will be divided into two parts. Part one will be undertaken to: (A) evaluate the arguments of critics as well as defenders of contemporary record-keeping practices and the philosophical conceptions of privacy, which underlie them; and, using these themes (B) provide a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of Bill C- 6, examining the ways in which policy makers have begun to treat privacy as both a commodity and a secondary adjunct to business activity. Part two of the paper, purposes a series of recommendations or, more specifically, a framework for Bill C-6 that would, more effectively, protect individual privacy from private entities, who collect online data.

Trust in Intensive Care Patients, Family, and Healthcare Professionals: The Development of a Conceptual Framework Followed by a Case Study

Intensive care patients experience anxiety, pain, uncertainty, and total dependency. In general, it is important to develop trust between the healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients, and their family. Trust building in the ICU setting is challenging because of the time sensitivity of decision making and the dependency of patients on health care professionals. The objectives of this study are the development of a trust framework and then to use this framework in a case study in the intensive care. In three steps we developed a comprehensive trust framework from the literature concerning trust. First, we identified the elements of trust. Second, we adapted and integrated the dimensions to six concepts to construct the trust framework. Third, these concepts are incorporated into a comprehensive trust framework. In a case study we explored the facilitators and barriers within this framework in eight semi-open interviews with healthcare professionals and eight patients or partners. Trust was first explored inductively and then deductively. We showed that HCPs, patients, and family have largely the same perspective regarding the facilitators of trust, in which communication emerged as the most important one. Other facilitators are maintaining an open feedback culture for HCPs and being aware of patients’ physical and informational privacy. Patients want to be approached as an individual with individual needs. Dishonesty and differences in values and norms were the most important barriers. To contribute to a positive perception of health delivery and to avoid conflicts between HCP and patients or their family we formulated five practical recommendations.