As ICT becomes more embedded in our lives, people are increasingly sharing private details of their lives via popular websites such as
Youtube and social networks like
MySpace. However, individuals and groups also want and need to keep certain parts of their lives hidden from public, and thus retain their privacy.
ePrivacy refers to the ability to do this in the domains of life supported by ICT. Data privacy refers to the "evolving relationship between technology and the legal right to, or public expectation of privacy in the collection and sharing of data" (
Wikipedia). Evolution of communication technologies has also facilitated surveillance by governments, with some EU countries,
the UK in particular , eroding individual privacy at an unprecedented rate.
Invasion of privacy is protected in many countries by law. However, there are typically limitations to this law, particularly in the domain of disclosure of earnings, for taxation purposes. Some countries’ freedom of speech legislation may come into conflict with privacy issues.
Individuals may also voluntarily sacrifice their privacy. For instance, publishing holiday photos publicly on a gallery website like
Flickr enables a person to share photos with many friends simultaneously, but also reveals information such as one's location at specific times and dates to anyone who might browse the photos.
ePrivacy also relates to copyright; infringing copyright can be seen as invading the rights of the owner of copyright. All of these examples of conflicts between privacy and disclosure illustrate that when using ICT, we navigate the fine line between our own rights, freedom, privacy and the rights of others.
