The history of the privacy issue (14) can be presented in three periods:
1. Up to about 1850 the worlds of HOME and WORK were the same. Socially, for almost all people it was the world of the village, sometimes even the world of the family. Technically, the tools used for work were privately owned in the family. Economically, at the end of this
period, most people were their own employers, after having been slaves or in the feudal system.
Politically, despite the hierarchical structure of the European rulers, people listened to a local government in which aldermen dominated.
In this period people didn't know what privacy was.
Apart from a few people, most people had no privacy at all. Everybody knew everybody in the village. The barber was the place to go for gossip about the local people. Even kings and counts had little privacy, but their position (hence power) determined the amount of privacy.
2. From about 1850 to 1950 the worlds of HOME and WORK were slowly drifting apart.
With the upcoming industrialization, for more and more people the world of their home and the world of their work were two different worlds. Hence, socially speaking, people recognized two social worlds. Some people even managed to separate these worlds completely by working in the town while still living in the village.
Town life and village life became distinct ways of living.
Technically, we see that ownership of tools also diverted into enterprise capital and family tools.
Economically, we see
more and more people becoming dependent of an employer.
Also law diverted into Family law and Trade law.
Politically, people were confronted with distant governmental views, policy and laws.
The National government and their election become a more important issue than local
government.
This drifting apart of HOME and WORK resulted into more and more privacy for most people.
You could hide away in one or the other world.
Town life was known for its individualism.
At the end of this period even the grocer disappeared and we got the
supermarket.
3.
Since 1950 for most people HOME and WORK are two very distinct worlds.
And most people want it that way.
They also see the value of hiding from one or the other.
But the more distant government and businesses became, the more they needed information about their clients and customers because they did not get this information in the old way by simply listening to people.
The government developed the Census and a
law to enforce its effectiveness.
Enterprises developed actions and gave presents for information.
Fortunately, around 1950 the computer developed.
Both government and business started to accumulate data as much as possible.
Privacy, for the first time, became an issue.
Now, with the present IT infrastructure in place, we leave a constant trace of where we are and what we do, making it even easier for government and commerce to collect and accumulate this data for their purposes.
The conclusion must be that all these parties in the present situation have their rational interests to give or to withhold personal information. The question is NOT how to prevent the loss of privacy. The question is how to balance the needs of all parties involved. Only
a deep study of competing interests and needs for information can give us an answer to the question of
privacy protection.
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