Chapter 5: Invasion of Privacy

From an ethical perspective, privacy is not merely an individual right but is a human condition and is fundamentally moral. Journalists who recognize this deeper and bigger perspective need ethical guidelines for implementing it. With internet and information technologies creating the greatest challenges, this chapter focuses on privacy in the digital age. The first case situates the privacy question in everyday internet usage. When people are connected to one another outside of business and government, the news media need to stimulate public understanding of privacy invasion. The second case introduces the challenges from the big data companies to our traditional understanding of privacy, using Facebook as an example of commercial intrusion. In the third case, the post-September 11 USA Patriot Act illustrates the dangers to privacy in the name of security that are true of democratic societies around the world. The last case discusses the emerging ethical concerns in the development and use of biometric technologies. Using police surveillance of protesters after the death of George Floyd as an example, the case discusses privacy issues in the age of biometric data collection.