New Technology, New Information Privacy: Social-Value-Oriented Information Privacy Theory

Today's innovative technologies offer remarkable advantages in our daily lives, but they also give rise to concerns that these technological advancements will adversely impact individuals' privacy. The traditional notions of information privacy were based on personal control over data about oneself, an antiqued notion in a time where pervasive surveillance has rendered it nearly impossible for individuals to protect information privacy on their own. Key privacy concerns arise because it is nearly impossible to be left out of the intertwined digital and Internet world. Those who choose not to use the Internet, smartphones, tablet computers, electronic mail and online social network platforms, nevertheless remain trapped in the inescapable digital net, with others able to track their personal data. This essay includes suggestions for reconstructing traditional privacy theories. The traditional notice-and-choice principle has failed to protect the information privacy. Privacy should be determined by both individuals' subjective feelings and objective social norms. The government has a constitutional obligation to protect the right to privacy by constructing basic information privacy protection principles. Furthermore, this essay proposes an approach to constructing a social-value-oriented information privacy theory. Among others, in determining the context of privacy, if no social precedents are available, the particular social activity's consequences, purposes, and values may first be identified, and then these results may be used to trace back to the starting point and consider how to regulate social activities.