Beyond Moral Coupling: Analysing Politics of Privacy in the Era of Surveillance

[journal article]

Abstract

The article calls into question the prevailing discursive construction in contemporary debate on privacy and surveillance. At the core of this discourse is a moral coupling wherein surveillance is perceived as enemy and privacy as friend. Even if this binary approach renders arguments for democratis... view more

The article calls into question the prevailing discursive construction in contemporary debate on privacy and surveillance. At the core of this discourse is a moral coupling wherein surveillance is perceived as enemy and privacy as friend. Even if this binary approach renders arguments for democratising data more persuasive, a political cost accompanies it. As this discourse situates political struggle at the level of digital infrastructure and political structures, the moral coupling largely overlooks the ambiguities of how people in their various activities in a digital environment experience surveillance and privacy. Such a framing may discourage users at large from engagement with politics of privacy. Edward Snowden’s autobiography is taken as a prominent example of the prevailing discourse. While analysing Snowden’s descriptions of privacy and surveillance critically, the author points out the specific value of life stories in describing what privacy means and why it matters. While we cannot assume all people to be equally capable of considering how their own life intersects with the history of their society, we can presume that varying life stories should contribute to the public knowledge of privacy. To provide the framework necessary for appropriately contextualising empirical evidence, the author presents a model wherein privacy is composed of five dimensions: solitude, anonymity, secrecy, intimacy, and dignity.... view less

Keywords
digital media; infrastructure; data security; security; online media; privacy; monitoring; data protection

Classification
Media Politics, Information Politics, Media Law
Interactive, electronic Media

Free Keywords
Snowden, E.; digital infrastructure; life-story research; online security; surveillance

Document language
English

Publication Year
2020

Page/Pages
p. 248-257

Journal
Media and Communication, 8 (2020) 2

Issue topic
The Politics of Privacy: Communication and Media Perspectives in Privacy Research

ISSN
2183-2439

Status
Published Version; peer reviewed

Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0