Value and Misunderstanding coexist, 27th Release Book List | "Why Privacy is Important": Examining Privacy Protection | Personal | Privacy
Privacy and personal information protection have been a common focus and hot area of concern for countries around the world in recent years. Balancing privacy protection and data flow in the digital economy requires the formation of a consensus on the importance of privacy and personal information within society, as well as the design of reliable solutions to assist individuals in establishing or regaining trust in personal information processors such as governments and businesses.
As a senior scholar in the fields of privacy and personal information protection, Neil Richards has made significant contributions in both theoretical research and legal practice. Richards is also one of the main members of the drafting group for the authoritative document on privacy law in the United States, the Principles of Information Privacy Law, and serves as an expert in the case of the Privacy Shield for cross-border data flows in Europe and America. The above theoretical research results and practical experience have been integrated into this book "Why Privacy is Important", which provides a systematic explanation of the theories related to privacy and personal information protection.
From the perspective of importance, examining privacy and personal information protection requires both recognizing their important value and clarifying common misconceptions.
Firstly, privacy is essential for individuals in distinguishing their social roles. In the sociological context, people participate in social life through different environments, follow specific behavioral norms, and play various social roles such as teachers, students, children, parents, etc. If personal privacy is not protected and personal information is casually exposed, it will increase the risk of conflicts and confusion among different roles of the same person, hindering the smooth assumption of social responsibility of roles.
Secondly, the relationship between public power and private rights in cyberspace has undergone a transformation, giving rise to a new framework of "public power platform private power private rights". Due to the asymmetry in information, resources, technology, and other aspects, individual rights are constantly being challenged and infringed upon. Individuals are powerless and unable to timely process massive amounts of privacy policies, user agreements, and other information to protect themselves. The trust and cooperation relationship between individuals and public and private power urgently needs to be rebuilt.
Thirdly, many misunderstandings about privacy and personal information protection affect the implementation of protection work. In this book, Richards succinctly categorizes it into four categories and refutes them one by one: first, "privacy is just to cover up hidden secrets"; second, "privacy is only about" goosebumps "; third," privacy is only about personal control "; and fourth," privacy is on the brink of death ". Richards believes that privacy, which involves important issues such as personal role identification and protection of private rights, will not only not be on the brink of death, but will continue to be vibrant in the future.
On the basis of the above discussion, Richards proposed principles and plans for properly protecting privacy and personal information around the concept of "individuals in reality" in his book.
The study of individuals in neuroscience, psychology, and economics, such as theories of irrational behavior and cognitive biases, is being used to carefully design targeted mechanisms to manipulate, mislead, and even deceive these "real life individuals" online, that is, individuals who are in reality and constantly influenced by the flow of information in cyberspace. Pop up ads and access hijacking are just relatively simple examples. Similar mechanisms exist in every aspect of online life, and individuals cannot easily identify, understand, and resist the precise principles behind these mechanisms. Therefore, protecting individuals requires proactive adjustment of personal information flow rules.
Richards believes that this adjustment process should include four main approaches: first, prudence, which means always maintaining a cautious attitude in handling privacy and personal information; The second is honesty, strengthening the transparency of the handling process, and avoiding the occurrence of deception or concealment; The third is security measures, which require the processor to take appropriate security measures; The fourth is faithfulness, which is also the core of its proposition. The spirit of trustworthiness and trustworthiness requires personal information processors to act from the perspective of protecting their personal interests, rather than pursuing their own short-term interests. They must not harm their own rights with personal information, nor manipulate or treat individuals unfairly. Although the details of the relevant institutional design are not found in this book and are left to be further discussed in Richards' other works, it is not difficult to see that the connotation of faith advocated by Richards has many similarities with the core of the data trust system being explored in China.
In summary, "Why Privacy is Important" is undoubtedly a masterpiece. Even though the target audience of this book is mainly foreign readers and the arguments are mostly based on materials from other countries, in today's increasingly frequent cross-border data, the risks and threats faced by countries around the world are essentially very similar. Rebuilding trust and promoting faith and righteousness are also issues that all countries need to address. I hope the arguments and conclusions in the book can inspire personal information protection work in China, and I also believe that this book can benefit domestic researchers, practitioners, and general readers.
"Why Privacy is Important" by Neil Richards, translated by Zhu Yue and Ji Tianshu, published by Shanghai People's Publishing House
