The ethics of data privacy
Date
2022-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Technology, and in particular information and communication technology (ICT), often relies
on sensitive data about people to deliver the results we want from them. There is nothing
inherently wrong with this: our social, scientific, political and economic institutions and
progress rely on this data, and would be seriously hampered if all data about people were
considered private. However, recent technological advancements have led to a whole new
relationship between people and ICT, and between ICT and privacy. As it turns out, access to
vast amounts of personal data unlocks unprecedented possibilities. This has led to a plethora
of new technologies that process all kinds of data about people, up to a point where our
established notions of privacy struggle to keep up with technological advancements. This
makes a recalibration of our relationship to technology, and in particular the role (data)
privacy plays in this relationship, necessary and urgent. But before we can come up with new
ways to manage privacy in relation to technology, we must first get clarity on what privacy is,
and why it deserves protection. This is why this thesis starts with an overview of the current
data privacy landscape and its different concepts and controversies, and with an argument for
why this landscape is unprecedented. Chapters Two and Three juxtapose two different
arguments for data privacy. The first claims that data privacy is justified in as far as it protects
us against harm. I disagree with this claim, and argue that a harm-based approach to data
privacy in a rapidly changing technological context is undermined by unreliable concepts and
predictions of harm. The second argument, which I defend, claims that data privacy deserves
protection because it constitutes a unique and necessary context for the protection of an
underlying value: the fundamental principle of respect for persons. The method I propose for
managing data privacy is derived from this second argument: rather than weighing up costs
and benefits, we must deliberate moral values and practical concerns that are at stake when
we evaluate data privacy dilemmas, and test the outcomes of our deliberations against the
principle of respect for persons.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
Description
Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2022.
Keywords
Data protection -- Law and legislation -- South Africa, Electronic data processing -- -- South Africa, Respect for persons -- Law and legislation -- South Africa, Privacy, Right of -- South Africa, South Africa -- Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013, Computer security -- South Africa, UCTD