Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
112-438: Secrecy is often controversial, depending on the content or nature of the secret, the group or people keeping the secret, and the motivation for secrecy. Secrecy by government entities is often decried as excessive or in promotion of poor operation; excessive revelation of information on individuals can conflict with virtues of privacy and confidentiality . It is often contrasted with social transparency . Secrecy can exist in
224-655: A Law on Access to Information was approved in 2005. It has gone into effect. Previously in 1998 there was accepted Law on Freedom on Information, but the Law of 2005 provided more detailed and secured regulation for access to official information. On 21 October 2008, the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh issued in the Bangladesh Gazette the Right to Information Ordinance (No. 50 of 2008), based loosely on
336-545: A company that monetizes data related to a user's location. Other international cases are similar to the Accuweather case. In 2017, a leaky API inside the McDelivery App exposed private data, which consisted of home addresses, of 2.2 million users. In the wake of these types of scandals, many large American technology companies such as Google, Apple, and Facebook have been subjected to hearings and pressure under
448-624: A historic pioneer in the field of FOI along with Sweden, Finland and Norway. There is no constitutional basis in the Constitution of Denmark for the right of the public to information. Denmark scores 64 points in Global Right to Information Rating. According to the Act of 1985, Section 4 Part 1 states that “any person may ask to see documents received or issued by an administrative authority.” Information concerning administrative matters of
560-541: A legal right. This limitation has serious implications because the private sector performs many functions which were previously the domain of the public sector. As a result, information that was previously public is now within the private sector, and the private contractors cannot be forced to disclose information. Other countries are working towards introducing such laws, and many regions of countries with national legislation have local laws. For example, all U.S. states have laws governing access to public documents belonging to
672-490: A limited time monopoly on its use, though patent applications are initially secret. Secret societies use secrecy as a way to attract members by creating a sense of importance. Shell companies may be used to launder money from criminal activity, to finance terrorism, or to evade taxes. Registers of beneficial ownership aim at fighting corporate secrecy in that sense. Other laws require organizations to keep certain information secret, such as medical records ( HIPAA in
784-457: A means to ensure accountable, inclusive and just institutions. Over 100 countries around the world have implemented some form of freedom of information legislation. Sweden 's Freedom of the Press Act of 1766 is the oldest in the world. Most freedom of information laws exclude the private sector from their jurisdiction thus information held by the private sector cannot be accessed as
896-423: A mobility database. The study further shows that these constraints hold even when the resolution of the dataset is low. Therefore, even coarse or blurred datasets confer little privacy protection. Several methods to protect user privacy in location-based services have been proposed, including the use of anonymizing servers and blurring of information. Methods to quantify privacy have also been proposed, to calculate
1008-480: A much greater volume and degree of harassment than would otherwise be possible. Revenge porn may lead to misogynist or homophobic harassment, such as in the suicide of Amanda Todd and the suicide of Tyler Clementi . When someone's physical location or other sensitive information is leaked over the Internet via doxxing , harassment may escalate to direct physical harm such as stalking or swatting . Despite
1120-461: A need by many candidates to control various online privacy settings in addition to controlling their online reputations, the conjunction of which has led to legal suits against both social media sites and US employers. Selfies are popular today. A search for photos with the hashtag #selfie retrieves over 23 million results on Instagram and 51 million with the hashtag #me. However, due to modern corporate and governmental surveillance, this may pose
1232-539: A number of different ways: encoding or encryption (where mathematical and technical strategies are used to hide messages), true secrecy (where restrictions are put upon those who take part of the message, such as through government security classification ) and obfuscation , where secrets are hidden in plain sight behind complex idiosyncratic language ( jargon ) or steganography . Another classification proposed by Claude Shannon in 1948 reads that there are three systems of secrecy within communication: Animals conceal
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#17327657618521344-472: A prisoner had no choice but to conform to the prison's rules. As technology has advanced, the way in which privacy is protected and violated has changed with it. In the case of some technologies, such as the printing press or the Internet , the increased ability to share information can lead to new ways in which privacy can be breached. It is generally agreed that the first publication advocating privacy in
1456-519: A risk to privacy. In a research study which takes a sample size of 3763, researchers found that for users posting selfies on social media, women generally have greater concerns over privacy than men, and that users' privacy concerns inversely predict their selfie behavior and activity. An invasion of someone's privacy may be widely and quickly disseminated over the Internet. When social media sites and other online communities fail to invest in content moderation , an invasion of privacy can expose people to
1568-403: A secret. Also, the other may insist that one answer the question. Nearly 2500 years ago, Sophocles wrote: 'Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.'. Gautama Siddhartha said: "Three things cannot long stay hidden: the sun , the moon and the truth .". Privacy Privacy ( UK : / ˈ p r ɪ v ə s i / , US : / ˈ p r aɪ -/ )
1680-748: A subject of the laws, as is true outside of elections) in selecting their government servants. It is argued that secrecy is impermissible as against the public in the area of elections where the government gets all of its power and taxing authority. In any event, permissible secrecy varies significantly with the context involved. Organizations, ranging from multi-national for profit corporations to nonprofit charities , keep secrets for competitive advantage , to meet legal requirements, or, in some cases, to conceal nefarious behavior. New products under development, unique manufacturing techniques, or simply lists of customers are types of information protected by trade secret laws. Research on corporate secrecy has studied
1792-566: A warrant to arrest Timothy Ivory Carpenter on multiple charges, and the Supreme Court ruled that the warrantless search of cell phone records violated the Fourth Amendment, citing that the Fourth Amendment protects "reasonable expectations of privacy" and that information sent to third parties still falls under data that can be included under "reasonable expectations of privacy". Beyond law enforcement, many interactions between
1904-497: Is Joseph Conrad 's short story " The Secret Sharer ". Governments often attempt to conceal information from other governments and the public. These state secrets can include weapon designs, military plans, diplomatic negotiation tactics, and secrets obtained illicitly from others (" intelligence "). Most nations have some form of Official Secrets Act (the Espionage Act in the U.S.) and classify material according to
2016-497: Is a Crown copyright . Complaints for possible violations of the Act may be reported to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada . Canadian access to information laws distinguish between access to records generally and access to records that contain personal information about the person making the request. Subject to exceptions, individuals have a right of access to records that contain their own personal information under
2128-540: Is derived from the Latin word and concept of ‘ privatus ’, which referred to things set apart from what is public; personal and belonging to oneself, and not to the state. Literally, ‘ privatus ’ is the past participle of the Latin verb ‘ privere ’ meaning ‘to be deprived of’. The concept of privacy has been explored and discussed by numerous philosophers throughout history. Privacy has historical roots in ancient Greek philosophical discussions. The most well-known of these
2240-556: Is enforced by the Information Commissioner of Canada . There is also a complementary Privacy Act that was introduced in 1983. The purpose of the Privacy Act is to extend the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a federal government institution and that provide individuals with a right of access to that information. It
2352-851: Is exacerbated by deanonymization research indicating that personal traits such as sexual orientation, race, religious and political views, personality, or intelligence can be inferred based on a wide variety of digital footprints , such as samples of text, browsing logs, or Facebook Likes. Intrusions of social media privacy are known to affect employment in the United States. Microsoft reports that 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals now do online research about candidates, often using information provided by search engines, social-networking sites, photo/video-sharing sites, personal web sites and blogs, and Twitter . They also report that 70 percent of U.S. recruiters have rejected candidates based on internet information. This has created
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#17327657618522464-516: Is guaranteed in constitutional provisions on freedom of expression. The No. 184(I)/2017 law on access to information in the southern part of the Republic of Cyprus of the country has been published on 22 December 2017. A law that falls below Council of Europe standards in the Northern occupied part of Cyprus. The right to access to public information is provided in different ways in the two parts of
2576-401: Is not kept secret. Information hiding is a design principle in much software engineering . It is considered easier to verify software reliability if one can be sure that different parts of the program can only access (and therefore depend on) a known limited amount of information. Military secrecy is the concealing of information about martial affairs that is purposely not made available to
2688-670: Is the civil law . Privacy in Canada was first addressed through the Privacy Act , a 1985 piece of legislation applicable to personal information held by government institutions. The provinces and territories would later follow suit with their own legislation. Generally, the purposes of said legislation are to provide individuals rights to access personal information; to have inaccurate personal information corrected; and to prevent unauthorized collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. In terms of regulating personal information in
2800-430: Is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security , which can include the concepts of appropriate use and protection of information. Privacy may also take the form of bodily integrity . Throughout history, there have been various conceptions of privacy. Most cultures acknowledge
2912-572: Is typically applied in the criminal law context. In Quebec, individuals' privacy is safeguarded by articles 3 and 35 to 41 of the Civil Code of Quebec as well as by s. 5 of the Charter of human rights and freedoms . Sunshine law Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation
3024-695: The Freedom of Information Act 1982 was passed at the federal level in 1982, applying to all "ministers, departments and public authorities" of the Commonwealth. The act was amended in 2010 under the Rudd Government, establishing the government office of the information commissioner, to further promote freedom of information. There is similar legislation in all states and territories: "Austria’s government has frequently been criticized for inadequate transparency. Official secrecy remains enshrined in
3136-479: The Privacy Act but the general public does not have a right of access to records that contain personal information about others under the Access to Information Act . Each province and territory in Canada has its own access to information legislation. In all cases, this is also the provincial public sector privacy legislation. For example: From 1989 to 2008, requests made to the federal government were catalogued in
3248-556: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a privacy protection agreement for the members of that organization. Approaches to privacy can, broadly, be divided into two categories: free market or consumer protection . One example of the free market approach is to be found in the voluntary OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. The principles reflected in
3360-559: The Constitution provides for the freedom of information. A law titled Law on Access to Public Information ( Ley de Acceso a la Información Pública ) took effect on 20 April 2009. In April 2007, the State Council of the People's Republic of China promulgated the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information" (中华人民共和国政府信息公开条例), which came into effect on 1 May 2008. The Colombian constitution grants
3472-548: The Constitution of South Africa says that "everyone has a right to privacy"; and the Constitution of the Republic of Korea says "the privacy of no citizen shall be infringed." The Italian Constitution also defines the right to privacy. Among most countries whose constitutions do not explicitly describe privacy rights, court decisions have interpreted their constitutions to intend to give privacy rights. Many countries have broad privacy laws outside their constitutions, including Australia's Privacy Act 1988 , Argentina's Law for
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3584-686: The Coordination of Access to Information Requests System . A 393-page report released in September 2008, sponsored by several Canadian newspaper groups, compares Canada's Access to Information Act to the FOI laws of the provinces and of 68 other nations. In 2009, The Walrus (magazine) published a detailed history of FOI in Canada. The Freedom of Information Law was passed in 2007 and was brought into force in January 2009. In Chile , article 8 of
3696-614: The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and the Electronic Frontier Foundation argue that addressing the new privacy harms introduced by the Internet requires both technological improvements to encryption and anonymity as well as societal efforts such as legal regulations to restrict corporate and government power. While the Internet began as a government and academic effort up through the 1980s, private corporations began to enclose
3808-507: The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015 made a distinction between collecting the contents of messages sent between users and the metadata surrounding those messages. Most countries give citizens rights to privacy in their constitutions. Representative examples of this include the Constitution of Brazil , which says "the privacy, private life, honor and image of people are inviolable";
3920-597: The United States ), governments are typically bound by a duty to publish and promote openness. In many countries there are constitutional guarantees for the right of access to information, but these are usually unused if specific support legislation does not exist. Additionally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 has a target to ensure public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms as
4032-467: The landmark legal case of United States v. Reynolds , decided by the Supreme Court in 1953. Excessive secrecy is often cited as a source of much human conflict. One may have to lie in order to hold a secret, which might lead to psychological repercussions. The alternative, declining to answer when asked something, may suggest the answer and may therefore not always be suitable for keeping
4144-413: The subverted expectations of users who share information online without expecting it to be stored and retained indefinitely. Phenomena such as revenge porn and deepfakes are not merely individual because they require both the ability to obtain images without someone's consent as well as the social and economic infrastructure to disseminate that content widely. Therefore, privacy advocacy groups such as
4256-636: The Article 5, XXXIII, of the Constitution sets that "everyone shall have the right to receive information of his own interest or of public interest from public entities, which shall be given within the time prescribed by law". Also, article 22 of the Federal law nº 8.159/1991 grants the right to "full access to public documents". A statute passed in 2011 and that will enter into force in 2012 (Federal Law 12.527/2011, promulgated on 28 November 2011) regulates
4368-561: The Australian Government via the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012. In 2015, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015 was passed, to some controversy over its human rights implications and the role of media. Canada is a federal state whose provinces and territories abide by the common law save the province of Quebec whose legal tradition
4480-483: The Defense Intelligence Service. In addition, the access to legislative process was further restricted. According to the new Act documents in the drafting stage are not to be accessed as well as “other corresponding political activities,” so restriction is not concerning only Bills. In the future, it will not be possible to find the calendars of ministers being published. Nevertheless, the Act
4592-691: The Indian Right to Information Act , 2005. The Ordinance was passed by the current government of Bangladesh in the first session of this parliament on 29 March 2009. The A2i programme is a part of the Vision 2021 , a political manifesto of the Bangladesh Awami League party before winning the National Elections of 2008 . Article 32 of the Constitution was amended in 1993 to include a right of access to documents held by
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4704-684: The Office of the Privacy Commissioner and Canadian academics. In the absence of a statutory private right of action absent an OPC investigation, the common law torts of intrusion upon seclusion and public disclosure of private facts, as well as the Civil Code of Quebec may be brought for an infringement or violation of privacy. Privacy is also protected under ss. 7 and 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which
4816-656: The Press report of 2015. The new legislation caused demonstrations and protests. It can be regarded as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After the Public Records Act of 2013 came into effect, public access to information regarding the Intelligence Services instead of falling under the Public Records Act is now managed by the Act on the Security and Intelligence Service as well as the Act on
4928-749: The Protection of Personal Data of 2000, Canada's 2000 Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act , and Japan's 2003 Personal Information Protection Law. Beyond national privacy laws, there are international privacy agreements. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights says "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with [their] privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon [their] honor and reputation." The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published its Privacy Guidelines in 1980. The European Union's 1995 Data Protection Directive guides privacy protection in Europe. The 2004 Privacy Framework by
5040-664: The Republika Srpska and Freedom of Access to Information Act for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina respectively. The FOIA Act changed on the BiH state level two times. The first alteration was passed in 2006, enabling stronger legal protection within the framework of administrative law of BiH. The second alteration was passed in December 2009, which enforced legal penalties for prescribed violations. In Brazil ,
5152-409: The U.S. Freedom of Information Act and sunshine laws . Government officials sometimes leak information they are supposed to keep secret. ( For a recent (2005) example, see Plame affair . ) Secrecy in elections is a growing issue, particularly secrecy of vote counts on computerized vote counting machines. While voting, citizens are acting in a unique sovereign or "owner" capacity (instead of being
5264-609: The U.S. legislative system. In 2011, US Senator Al Franken wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs , noting the ability of iPhones and iPads to record and store users' locations in unencrypted files. Apple claimed this was an unintentional software bug , but Justin Brookman of the Center for Democracy and Technology directly challenged that portrayal, stating "I'm glad that they are fixing what they call bugs, but I take exception with their strong denial that they track users." In 2021,
5376-490: The U.S. state of Arizona found in a court case that Google misled its users and stored the location of users regardless of their location settings. The Internet has become a significant medium for advertising, with digital marketing making up approximately half of the global ad spending in 2019. While websites are still able to sell advertising space without tracking, including via contextual advertising , digital ad brokers such as Facebook and Google have instead encouraged
5488-421: The U.S.), or financial reports that are under preparation (to limit insider trading ). Europe has particularly strict laws about database privacy. Preservation of secrets is one of the goals of information security . Techniques used include physical security and cryptography . The latter depends on the secrecy of cryptographic keys . Many believe that security technology can be more effective if it itself
5600-501: The United States was the 1890 article by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis , "The Right to Privacy", and that it was written mainly in response to the increase in newspapers and photographs made possible by printing technologies. In 1948, 1984 , written by George Orwell , was published. A classic dystopian novel, 1984 describes the life of Winston Smith in 1984, located in Oceania, a totalitarian state. The all-controlling Party,
5712-629: The Universal Access to Information” or, as it is more commonly known, Access to Information Day . The date had previously been celebrated as “Right to Know Day” since 2002. The UNESCO resolution recommends approval by the UN General Assembly . In Albania , the constitution of 1998 guarantees the right of access to information; the legislation for supporting this is Law no. 119/2014 "On the right to information" (Ligji nr. 119/2014 "Për të drejtën e informimit"). The law regulates
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#17327657618525824-613: The already existing privacy requirements that applied to telecommunications providers (under Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 ), and confidentiality requirements that already applied to banking, legal and patient / doctor relationships. In 2008 the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) conducted a review of Australian privacy law and produced a report titled "For Your Information". Recommendations were taken up and implemented by
5936-554: The bill due to its provisions for warrantless breaches of privacy, stating "I don't want to see our children victimized again by losing privacy rights." Even where these laws have been passed despite privacy concerns, they have not demonstrated a reduction in online harassment. When the Korea Communications Commission introduced a registration system for online commenters in 2007, they reported that malicious comments only decreased by 0.9%, and in 2011 it
6048-484: The cloud was not necessarily a form of evidence. Riley v. California evidently became a landmark case, protecting the digital protection of citizen's privacy when confronted with the police. A recent notable occurrence of the conflict between law enforcement and a citizen in terms of digital privacy has been in the 2018 case, Carpenter v. United States (585 U.S. ____). In this case, the FBI used cell phone records without
6160-428: The computer networks which underlie the Internet introduce such a wide range of novel security concerns, the discussion of privacy on the Internet is often conflated with security . Indeed, many entities such as corporations involved in the surveillance economy inculcate a security-focused conceptualization of privacy which reduces their obligations to uphold privacy into a matter of regulatory compliance , while at
6272-500: The concepts are often closely tied together in political discourse. A basic principle behind most freedom of information legislation is that the burden of proof falls on the body asked for information, not the person asking for it. The person making the request does not usually have to give an explanation for their actions, but if the information is not disclosed a valid reason has to be given. In 2015 The UNESCO General Conference voted to designate 28 Sep as “International Day for
6384-716: The constitution, and Austria’s overall legal framework on access to information is weak" writes the NGO Freedom House in its 2022 and 2023 reports. Reporters without Borders (RSF) : "In Austria, press freedom has been undermined by various political pressures or restrictions on access to information." In the context of a newly proposed public access law that has yet to be passed by parliament , Transparency International writes: "More than 110 countries have already created freedom of information – Nonsense that this should not be possible in Austria." In Azerbaijan ,
6496-428: The contracts and purchases made by month. The latter taking place slowly. A more modern law, the "Ley de transparencia y del derecho de acceso a la información pública nacional" its at its final stages. Article 23 of the constitution states that "Every person has the right to present petitions to the authorities for the general or private interest and to secure their prompt resolution. The legislative body may regulate
6608-447: The current state of the value of individuals' privacy of online social networking show the following results: "first, adults seem to be more concerned about potential privacy threats than younger users; second, policy makers should be alarmed by a large part of users who underestimate risks of their information privacy on OSNs; third, in the case of using OSNs and its services, traditional one-dimensional privacy approaches fall short". This
6720-490: The debate regarding privacy from a physical sense, how the government controls a person's body (i.e. Roe v. Wade ) and other activities such as wiretapping and photography. As important records became digitized, Westin argued that personal data was becoming too accessible and that a person should have complete jurisdiction over their data, laying the foundation for the modern discussion of privacy. New technologies can also create new ways to gather private information. In 2001,
6832-476: The effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of a school." Increasingly, mobile devices facilitate location tracking . This creates user privacy problems. A user's location and preferences constitute personal information , and their improper use violates that user's privacy. A recent MIT study by de Montjoye et al. showed that four spatio-temporal points constituting approximate places and times are enough to uniquely identify 95% of 1.5M people in
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#17327657618526944-472: The equilibrium between the benefit of obtaining accurate location information and the risks of breaching an individual's privacy. There have been scandals regarding location privacy. One instance was the scandal concerning AccuWeather , where it was revealed that AccuWeather was selling locational data. This consisted of a user's locational data, even if they opted out within Accuweather, which tracked users' location. Accuweather sold this data to Reveal Mobile,
7056-551: The extent of their contribution to human wellbeing, or necessary utility. Hegel’s notions were modified by prominent 19th century English philosopher John Stuart Mill . Mill’s essay On Liberty (1859) argued for the importance of protecting individual liberty against the tyranny of the majority and the interference of the state. His views emphasized the right of privacy as essential for personal development and self-expression. Discussions surrounding surveillance coincided with philosophical ideas on privacy. Jeremy Bentham developed
7168-469: The factors supporting secret organizations. In particular, scholars in economics and management have paid attention to the way firms participating in cartels work together to maintain secrecy and conceal their activities from antitrust authorities. The diversity of the participants (in terms of age and size of the firms) influences their ability to coordinate to avoid being detected. The patent system encourages inventors to publish information in exchange for
7280-410: The family with outsiders or sometimes even within the family. Many "family secrets" are maintained by using a mutually agreed-upon construct (an official family story) when speaking with outside members. Agreement to maintain the secret is often coerced through "shaming" and reference to family honor . The information may even be something as trivial as a recipe . Secrets are sometimes kept to provide
7392-581: The general public and hence to any enemy, in order to gain an advantage or to not reveal a weakness, to avoid embarrassment , or to help in propaganda efforts. Most military secrets are tactical in nature, such as the strengths and weaknesses of weapon systems , tactics , training methods, plans, and the number and location of specific weapons. Some secrets involve information in broader areas, such as secure communications, cryptography , intelligence operations, and cooperation with third parties. US Government rights in regard to military secrecy were uphold in
7504-544: The government and citizens have been revealed either lawfully or unlawfully, specifically through whistleblowers. One notable example is Edward Snowden , who released multiple operations related to the mass surveillance operations of the National Security Agency (NSA), where it was discovered that the NSA continues to breach the security of millions of people, mainly through mass surveillance programs whether it
7616-471: The government, are able to monitor a user's data and decide what is allowed to be said online through their censorship policies, ultimately for monetary purposes. In the 1960s, people began to consider how changes in technology were bringing changes in the concept of privacy. Vance Packard 's The Naked Society was a popular book on privacy from that era and led US discourse on privacy at that time. In addition, Alan Westin 's Privacy and Freedom shifted
7728-523: The government. In Belize , the Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1998 was amended in 2000 and is currently in force, though a governmental commission noted that "not much use has been made of the Act". The National Assembly of Bhutan passed an RTI Bill in February 2014. Its purpose is to curb corruption by providing the public with the right to access information. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)
7840-572: The guidelines, free of legislative interference, are analyzed in an article putting them into perspective with concepts of the GDPR put into law later in the European Union. In a consumer protection approach, in contrast, it is claimed that individuals may not have the time or knowledge to make informed choices, or may not have reasonable alternatives available. In support of this view, Jensen and Potts showed that most privacy policies are above
7952-564: The hardware and software of the Internet in the 1990s, and now most Internet infrastructure is owned and managed by for-profit corporations. As a result, the ability of governments to protect their citizens' privacy is largely restricted to industrial policy , instituting controls on corporations that handle communications or personal data . Privacy regulations are often further constrained to only protect specific demographics such as children, or specific industries such as credit card bureaus. Several online social network sites (OSNs) are among
8064-906: The information. Registers and records processed electronically are excluded from the administrative documents that can be given access to. Section 10 outlines other areas excluded from access, such as records of meetings of the Council of State , minutes, as well as documents prepared for such meetings; correspondence between ministries concerning legislation and material used for scientific research or public statistics. Decision to grant or not to grant access can be appealed. Decisions can also be appealed externally to Folketingets Ombudsman. Ombudsman can also deliver opinions and review decisions; however, these are not binding even though generally followed. Ombudsman receives 200–300 complaints annually; approximately 15 percent of complaints are ruled in favour of appellants. The exemption regarding EU documents
8176-470: The island, in which Cyprus is de facto divided. As to 2011, a research by the Open Cyprus Project showed that there was a level of 75% of administrative silence island-wide, in response to information requests. Over half of the respondents to this survey stated that, in practice, access to key documents is not possible. Since late 2013, a draft law on the Right to Access Public Information
8288-468: The law to reach legal decisions relating to the public sector, to the extent of such authorisation. Access to Public Administration Files Act of 1985 is a Danish act passed by the Folketing concerning public access to governmental records. The Act came into force in 1987 and repealed the Public Records Act of 1970. New version of the Act came into force on 1 January 2014. Denmark is considered to be
8400-461: The legal case Kyllo v. United States (533 U.S. 27) determined that the use of thermal imaging devices that can reveal previously unknown information without a warrant constitutes a violation of privacy. In 2019, after developing a corporate rivalry in competing voice-recognition software, Apple and Amazon required employees to listen to intimate moments and faithfully transcribe the contents. Police and citizens often conflict on what degree
8512-491: The level of protection needed (hence the term " classified information "). An individual needs a security clearance for access and other protection methods, such as keeping documents in a safe , are stipulated. Few people dispute the desirability of keeping Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information secret, but many believe government secrecy to be excessive and too often employed for political purposes. Many countries have laws that attempt to limit government secrecy, such as
8624-603: The location of their den or nest from predators . Squirrels bury nuts, hiding them, and they try to remember their locations later. Humans attempt to consciously conceal aspects of themselves from others due to shame , or from fear of violence, rejection, harassment, loss of acceptance , or loss of employment . Humans may also attempt to conceal aspects of their own self which they are not capable of incorporating psychologically into their conscious being. Families sometimes maintain " family secrets ", obliging family members never to discuss disagreeable issues concerning
8736-486: The main source of concern for many mobile users, especially with the rise of privacy scandals such as the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal . Apple has received some reactions for features that prohibit advertisers from tracking a user's data without their consent. Google attempted to introduce an alternative to cookies named FLoC which it claimed reduced the privacy harms, but it later retracted
8848-860: The manner and the timetable for the information to be given by the State. In Bulgaria , the Access to Public Information Act was passed in 2000, following a 1996 recommendation from the Constitutional Court to implement such a law. In Canada , the Access to Information Act allows citizens to demand records from federal bodies. The act came into force in 1983, under the Pierre Trudeau government, permitting Canadians to retrieve information from government files, establishing what information could be accessed, mandating timelines for response. This
8960-679: The official in charge of resolving the petition may be charged with misconduct. Access to official information is governed by the Official Information Act 2008 . The law is based heavily on the New Zealand legislation . In Croatia , the Zakon o pravu na pristup informacijama ( Act on the Right of Access to Information ) first introduced in 2003 extends to all public authorities. The right of access to information in Cyprus
9072-404: The party in power led by Big Brother, is able to control power through mass surveillance and limited freedom of speech and thought. George Orwell provides commentary on the negative effects of totalitarianism , particularly on privacy and censorship . Parallels have been drawn between 1984 and modern censorship and privacy, a notable example being that large social media companies, rather than
9184-515: The phenomenon known as the Panoptic effect through his 1791 architectural design of a prison called Panopticon . The phenomenon explored the possibility of surveillance as a general awareness of being watched that could never be proven at any particular moment. French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) concluded that the possibility of surveillance in the instance of the Panopticon meant
9296-423: The pleasure of surprise. This includes keeping secret about a surprise party , not telling spoilers of a story, and avoiding exposure of a magic trick. Keeping one’s strategy secret – is important in many aspects of game theory . In anthropology secret sharing is one way for people to establish traditional relations with other people. A commonly used narrative that describes this kind of behavior
9408-522: The police can intrude a citizen's digital privacy. For instance, in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in United States v. Jones (565 U.S. 400), in the case of Antoine Jones who was arrested of drug possession using a GPS tracker on his car that was placed without a warrant, that warrantless tracking infringes the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court also justified that there is some "reasonable expectation of privacy" in transportation since
9520-546: The political sphere, philosophers hold differing views on the right of private judgment. German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) makes the distinction between moralität , which refers to an individual’s private judgment, and sittlichkeit , pertaining to one’s rights and obligations as defined by an existing corporate order. On the contrary, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), an English philosopher, interpreted law as an invasion of privacy. His theory of utilitarianism argued that legal actions should be judged by
9632-432: The practice of behavioral advertising , providing code snippets used by website owners to track their users via HTTP cookies . This tracking data is also sold to other third parties as part of the mass surveillance industry . Since the introduction of mobile phones, data brokers have also been planted within apps, resulting in a $ 350 billion digital industry especially focused on mobile devices. Digital privacy has become
9744-504: The presentation of petitions to private organisations in order to guarantee fundamental rights." This article justifies the existence of a jurisdictional mechanism known a petition action. This action is regulated by the law 1755 of 2015 and is considered by the Colombian Judicial Doctrine as a fundamental human right. According to the law all petitions should be fully addressed in 15 business days. If not addressed
9856-406: The private sector, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") is enforceable in all jurisdictions unless a substantially similar provision has been enacted on the provincial level. However, inter-provincial or international information transfers still engage PIPEDA. PIPEDA has gone through two law overhaul efforts in 2021 and 2023 with the involvement of
9968-531: The proposal due to antitrust probes and analyses that contradicted their claims of privacy. The ability to do online inquiries about individuals has expanded dramatically over the last decade. Importantly, directly observed behavior, such as browsing logs, search queries, or contents of a public Facebook profile, can be automatically processed to infer secondary information about an individual, such as sexual orientation, political and religious views, race, substance use, intelligence, and personality. In Australia,
10080-512: The public administration; electricity and heating utilities as well as private bodies receiving public funding or performing public function can be acquired. Yet, the information concerning activities of judicial branch and legislators is not accessible. Reasons do not have to be given while making a request; however, the authorities can ask for additional information regarding document. The requests are supposed to be handled as soon as possible; if within period of 10 days response to an application
10192-584: The reading level of the average person. The Privacy Act 1988 is administered by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The initial introduction of privacy law in 1998 extended to the public sector, specifically to Federal government departments, under the Information Privacy Principles. State government agencies can also be subject to state based privacy legislation. This built upon
10304-479: The reasonable expectation of privacy had already been established under Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). The Supreme Court also further clarified that the Fourth Amendment did not only pertain to physical instances of intrusion but also digital instances, and thus United States v. Jones became a landmark case. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Riley v. California (573 U.S. 373), where David Leon Riley
10416-462: The right of access to information being produced or held by public sector. The rules contained in this law are designated to ensure the public access to information, in the framework of assuming the rights and freedoms of the individual in practice, as well as establishing views on the state and society situation. This law aims also at encouraging integrity, transparency and accountability of the public sector bodies. Every person shall, where deemed that
10528-428: The right of access to public information through Law 57 of 1985 which thereby mandates the publishing of acts and official documents. This is implemented and applies to documents that belong to official facilities (offices or the like). Additionally there is the anti corruption statement of Law 190 of 1955 also known as anti corruption act which in its 51st article mandates public offices to list in visible area all
10640-431: The right of individuals to keep aspects of their personal lives out of the public domain. The right to be free from unauthorized invasions of privacy by governments, corporations, or individuals is enshrined in the privacy laws of many countries and, in some instances, their constitutions. With the rise of technology, the debate regarding privacy has expanded from a bodily sense to include a digital sense. In most countries,
10752-453: The right to digital privacy is considered an extension of the original right to privacy , and many countries have passed acts that further protect digital privacy from public and private entities. There are multiple techniques to invade privacy, which may be employed by corporations or governments for profit or political reasons. Conversely, in order to protect privacy, people may employ encryption or anonymity measures. The word privacy
10864-641: The rights provided for in this law have been violated, be entitled to file a complaint administratively to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner's Office. In Argentina , the Access to public information Act (Ley 27.275) was adopted in 2016. The Law on Freedom of Information was unanimously approved by the Parliament on 23 September 2003 and went into force in November 2003. In Australia ,
10976-403: The same time lobbying to minimize those regulatory requirements. The Internet's effect on privacy includes all of the ways that computational technology and the entities that control it can subvert the privacy expectations of their users . In particular, the right to be forgotten is motivated by both the computational ability to store and search through massive amounts of data as well as
11088-445: The social contract laid the groundwork for modern conceptions of individual rights, including the right to privacy. In his Second Treatise of Civil Government (1689), Locke argued that a man is entitled to his own self through one’s natural rights of life, liberty, and property. He believed that the government was responsible for protecting these rights so individuals were guaranteed private spaces to practice personal activities. In
11200-409: The state and local taxing entities. Additionally, the U.S. Freedom of Information Act governs record management of documents in the possession of the federal government. A related concept is open meetings legislation, which allows access to government meetings, not just to the records of them. In many countries, privacy or data protection laws may be part of the freedom of information legislation;
11312-554: The top 10 most visited websites globally. Facebook for example, as of August 2015, was the largest social-networking site, with nearly 2.7 billion members, who upload over 4.75 billion pieces of content daily. While Twitter is significantly smaller with 316 million registered users, the US Library of Congress recently announced that it will be acquiring and permanently storing the entire archive of public Twitter posts since 2006. A review and evaluation of scholarly work regarding
11424-502: The way breaches of privacy can magnify online harassment, online harassment is often used as a justification to curtail freedom of speech , by removing the expectation of privacy via anonymity , or by enabling law enforcement to invade privacy without a search warrant . In the wake of Amanda Todd's death, the Canadian parliament proposed a motion purporting to stop bullying, but Todd's mother herself gave testimony to parliament rejecting
11536-711: Was Aristotle 's distinction between two spheres of life: the public sphere of the polis , associated with political life, and the private sphere of the oikos , associated with domestic life. Privacy is valued along with other basic necessities of life in the Jewish deutero-canonical Book of Sirach . Islam's holy text, the Qur'an, states the following regarding privacy: ‘Do not spy on one another’ (49:12); ‘Do not enter any houses except your own homes unless you are sure of their occupants' consent’ (24:27). English philosopher John Locke ’s (1632-1704) writings on natural rights and
11648-439: Was a response to increasing dissatisfaction with the secrecy surrounding government policy development and decision making. In recent years Access to Information Act has also been used. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. Also variously referred to as open records , or sunshine laws (in
11760-433: Was arrested after he was pulled over for driving on expired license tags when the police searched his phone and discovered that he was tied to a shooting, that searching a citizen's phone without a warrant was an unreasonable search, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court concluded that the cell phones contained personal information different from trivial items, and went beyond to state that information stored on
11872-686: Was being discussed in the Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus. On 22 December 2017 the law has finally been approved (Law number 184(I)/2017 Law on the Right of Access to Information of the Public Sector). In the Czech Republic , the Zákon č. 106/1999 Sb., o svobodném přístupu k informacím ( Act No. 106/1999 Coll. on Free Access to Information ) covers the "state agencies, territorial self-administration authorities and public institutions managing public funds" as well as any body authorised by
11984-410: Was collecting great amounts of data through third party private companies, hacking into other embassies or frameworks of international countries, and various breaches of data, which prompted a culture shock and stirred international debate related to digital privacy. The Internet and technologies built on it enable new forms of social interactions at increasingly faster speeds and larger scales. Because
12096-489: Was created while keeping in mind the strengthening the project of the Open Government; the list of institutions covered by the Act was extended as well as list of public-private institutions and companies. Hipólito Mejía approved Ley No.200-04 – Ley General de Libre Acceso a la Información Pública ( Law number 200-04 – Law on Access to Information ) on 28 July 2004, which allows public access to information from
12208-407: Was not provided, the authority has to inform on reasons for the delay as well as expected date for a decision. More detailed procedures are not laid down in the Act. Access to information is limited by “the obligation to maintain secrecy.” Considerations of State security, defence, foreign policy, external economic interests as well as public financial interests can limit the granting of access to
12320-549: Was repealed. A subsequent analysis found that the set of users who posted the most comments actually increased the number of "aggressive expressions" when forced to use their real name. In the US, while federal law only prohibits online harassment based on protected characteristics such as gender and race, individual states have expanded the definition of harassment to further curtail speech: Florida's definition of online harassment includes "any use of data or computer software" that "Has
12432-525: Was taken out of the Act in 1991. Amendments were also made in 2000; they concerned data on the employees of the Government. In January 2014 new Public Records Act was enforced. The new act was highly debated since it was considered to limit transparency in the Government and legislative proceedings; Denmark received one point less in the category of Political Environment when compared with the Freedom of
12544-526: Was the first country in the Balkan region to adopt a Freedom of Information Act. Freedom of Access to Information Act or FOIA – was adopted by the Parliament Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 17 November 2000. Both federal entities – the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – passed freedom of information laws in 2001, the Freedom of Access to Information Act for
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