INTERNET AND

PRIVACY
MURUNGWENI AND JACOB
 introduction
• The internet has revolutionized the world of communication with its
world-wide broadcasting capacity (Leiner et al.,2003).
• Today, the Internet is the most preferred medium of communication.
People shop, exchange photos and message, learn, work and even receive
medical consultations on the internet.
• A report by the international Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United
Nations body, states that out of the current world population of 7 billion
people, almost 3.2 billion people use the Internet.
PRIVACY
 privacy
• The concept of privacy has had an important role in sociological, political,
economic, religious studies from antiquity to the modern world.
• The concept of privacy can be found in Aristotle’s books on politics, John Locke’s
works in the 1600’s on public and private property , where the authors create
distinctions between public and private spaces and denote the latter as an aspect of
p privacy (DeCew, 2016).
• As civilization advanced, social and political changes to the society brought about
the recognitions new rights, one of which was the “right to be left alone” (Cooley,
1879).
• Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis stated that every
individual was entitled to privacy of body and mind and this right
came with enforceability, a right today known as the right to
privacy(Warren & Brandeis, 1890).
• Altman said that privacy could be understood as a Selective control of
access of one’s information
• An Individual who is a consumer on a digital platform today, can say his
privacy has been violated when he loses control of his personal data on that
platform (O’Brien & Torres, 2012).
• However, while privacy theorists have established that control is integral to
privacy and despite growing concerns about vulnerability online, a large
number of internet users, especially users of social media platforms seem to be
still sharing their personal information online, without expressing worry about
the risks associated with the same and don’t appear to concerned about the loss
of control of their personal data .
• Personal information is the kind of information about ourselves that is
common for people in a certain society not to want anyone, other than
themselves (and perhaps a very limited number of other people chosen by
them) to know about.
• It also includes information that the subject is particularly sensitive about
and has taken measures to conceal from others
• But why should we value privacy?
• Well, because having our personal information accessed and our sensorial
space invaded makes us vulnerable. Privacy protects us from both
individual and collective harms.
 INDIVIDUAL HARMS
• One set of harms that privacy protects us from is illustrated by revenge porn – the non-
consensual sharing of nude or sexual images – and related harms such as blackmail.
• Others’ attention and judgment can cause people to feel self-conscious at best, and
humiliated or shunned at worst.
• Other individual harms include identity theft and fraud.
• It is surprisingly difficult to prove you did not commit a crime when someone is
committing them in your name.
• The example of the political space of Zimbabwe.
• Some other individual harms are more difficult to notice, but can be just
as damaging eg discrimination.
• Data brokers are companies that strive to collect all the data they can on
internet users. Information can include census and address records,
driving records, web-browsing history, social media data, criminal
records, academic records, credit records, medical records, and more.
• They then sell these files to banks, would-be employers, insurance
companies, and governments, among others.
 COLLECTIVE HARMS
• Privacy damages can also be collective.
The rigged election in Zimbabwe and many other countries
Data protection bill in Zimbabwe.
Internet shutdown in zimbabwe
 DATA HYGIENE
• Hoarding personal data is a risky practice as information is hard to keep
safe in the digital age.
• This information is coveted by many agents – from personal enemies,
jealous exes, and bad neighbours, to insurance companies, business
competitors, data brokers, banks, and governments.
 way to protect privacy online.
• Abistenence
• Useful advice includes being conservative in all privacy settings.
• covering your camera swith tape or a sticker.
• staying away from online quizzes that ask personal questions,
• using ad blockers.
• turning off your phone’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you leave home
• choosing services that are better at protecting privacy (e.g. DuckDuckGo instead of
Google, ProtonMail instead of Gmail, etc.)
 conclusion
• In 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg suggested that privacy was no
longer ‘a social norm,’ that we had ‘evolved’ beyond it.
• His buying of the four houses surrounding his for privacy reasons casts doubt
on the sincerity of his statement.
• What is clear, in any case, is that he was wrong.
• Privacy is as important and relevant as ever – in fact, in the digital age, it is
more relevant than ever. When we fail to protect privacy, individuals and
societies get harmed.