an article by Karen Renaud and Rosanne English (University of Glasgow, UK), Stephen Flowerday (University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa) and Melanie Volkamer (Fachbereich Informatik, TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany) published in Information & Computer Security Volume 24 Issue 4 (2016)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify to identify reasons for the lack of protest against dragnet surveillance in the UK. As part of this investigation, a study was carried out to gauge the understanding of “privacy” and “confidentiality” by the well-informed.
Design/methodology/approach
To perform a best-case study, the authors identified a group of well-informed participants in terms of security. To gain insights into their privacy-related mental models, they were asked first to define the three core terms and then to identify the scenarios. Then, the participants were provided with privacy-related scenarios and were asked to demonstrate their understanding by classifying the scenarios and identifying violations.
Findings
Although the participants were mostly able to identify privacy and confidentiality scenarios, they experienced difficulties in articulating the actual meaning of the terms privacy, confidentiality and security.
Research limitations/implications
There were a limited number of participants, yet the findings are interesting and justify further investigation. The implications, even of this initial study, are significant in that if citizens’ privacy rights are being violated and they did not seem to know how to protest this and if indeed they had the desire to do so.
Practical implications
Had the citizens understood the meaning of privacy, and their ancient right thereto, which is enshrined in law, their response to the Snowden revelations about ongoing wide-scale surveillance might well have been more strident and insistent.
Originality/value
People in the UK, where this study was carried out, do not seem to protest the privacy invasion effected by dragnet surveillance with any verve. The authors identify a number of possible reasons for this from the literature. One possible explanation is that people do not understand privacy. Thus, this study posits that privacy is unusual in that understanding does not seem to align with the ability to articulate the rights to privacy and their disapproval of such widespread surveillance. This seems to make protests unlikely.
Showing posts with label confidentiality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confidentiality. Show all posts
Monday, 9 January 2017
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Breaching the Contract? Privacy and the UK Census
an article by Catherine Heeney (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid) published in The Information Society Volume 28 Issue 5 (October-December 2012)
Abstract
Along with informed consent, anonymisation is an accepted method of protecting the interests of research participants, while allowing data collected for official statistical purposes to be reused by other agencies within and outside government.
The Decennial Census, carried out in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, is a major event in the production of research data and provides an important resource for a variety of organisations.
This article combines ethical evaluation, a review of relevant law and guidance, and analysis of 30 qualitative interviews (carried out during the period of the 2001 UK Census), in order to explore the adequacy of the current framework for the protection of informational privacy in relation to census data.
Taking account of Nissenbaum’s concept of “contextual integrity”, Vedder’s concept of “categorical privacy”, and Sen’s call to heed of the importance of “actual behaviour”, it will be argued that the current “contractarian” view of the relationship between an individual participant and the organisation carrying out the Census does not engage sufficiently with actual uses of data.
As a result, people have expectations of privacy that are not matched by practice and that the current normative – including the governance – framework cannot capture.
Hazel’s comment:
If people do not have confidence in the privacy of personal information provided to census enumerators then they will soon start providing information that is less than accurate – to the detriment of researchers and planners.
Abstract
Along with informed consent, anonymisation is an accepted method of protecting the interests of research participants, while allowing data collected for official statistical purposes to be reused by other agencies within and outside government.
The Decennial Census, carried out in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, is a major event in the production of research data and provides an important resource for a variety of organisations.
This article combines ethical evaluation, a review of relevant law and guidance, and analysis of 30 qualitative interviews (carried out during the period of the 2001 UK Census), in order to explore the adequacy of the current framework for the protection of informational privacy in relation to census data.
Taking account of Nissenbaum’s concept of “contextual integrity”, Vedder’s concept of “categorical privacy”, and Sen’s call to heed of the importance of “actual behaviour”, it will be argued that the current “contractarian” view of the relationship between an individual participant and the organisation carrying out the Census does not engage sufficiently with actual uses of data.
As a result, people have expectations of privacy that are not matched by practice and that the current normative – including the governance – framework cannot capture.
Hazel’s comment:
If people do not have confidence in the privacy of personal information provided to census enumerators then they will soon start providing information that is less than accurate – to the detriment of researchers and planners.
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