Editing Right to privacy (section)

== As an individual right ==
[[File:The artist's face behind his hand.jpg|thumb|"Don't take pictures of me", drawing school, Russia, 2021]]
[[Alan Westin]] believes that new technologies alter the balance between privacy and disclosure and that privacy rights may limit government surveillance to protect democratic processes. Westin defines privacy as "the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others". Westin describes 4 states of privacy: solitude, intimacy, anonymity, and reserve. These states must balance participation against norms:

<blockquote>Each individual is continually engaged in a personal adjustment process in which he balances the desire for privacy with the desire for disclosure and communication of themself to others, in light of the environmental conditions and social norms set by the society in which they live.
:— Alan Westin, ''Privacy and Freedom'', 1968<ref>Westin, A. (1968). ''Privacy and Freedom'' (Fifth ed.). New York.: Atheneum.</ref></blockquote>

Under liberal democratic systems, privacy creates a space separate from political life, and allows personal autonomy, while ensuring democratic [[Freedom of association|freedoms of association]] and [[Freedom of speech|expression]]. Privacy to individuals is the ability to behave, think, speak, and express ideas without the monitoring or surveillance of someone else. Individuals exercise their freedom of expression through attending political rallies and choosing to hide their identities online by using pseudonyms.

David Flaherty believes networked computer databases pose threats to privacy. He develops 'data protection' as an aspect of privacy, which involves "the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information". This concept forms the foundation for fair information practices used by governments globally. Flaherty forwards an idea of privacy as information control, "individuals want to be left alone and to exercise some control over how information about them is used".<ref>Flaherty, D. (1989). Protecting privacy in surveillance societies: The federal republic of Germany, Sweden, France, Canada, and the United States. Chapel Hill, U.S.: The University of North Carolina Press.</ref>

[[Marc Rotenberg]] has described the modern right to privacy as Fair Information Practices: "the rights and responsibilities associated with the collection and use of personal information." Rotenberg emphasizes that the allocation of rights are to the data subject and the responsibilities are assigned to the data collectors because of the transfer of the data and the asymmetry of information concerning data practices.<ref>Allen, A. & Rotenberg, M. (2016). ''Privacy Law and Society''. West Academic.{{page needed|date=April 2022}} {{ISBN?}}</ref>

[[Richard Posner]] and [[Lawrence Lessig]] focus on the economic aspects of personal information control. Posner criticizes privacy for concealing information, which reduces market efficiency. For Posner, employment is selling oneself in the labor market, which he believes is like selling a product. Any 'defect' in the 'product' that is not reported is fraud.<ref>, Posner, R. A. (1981). "The economics of privacy". ''[[The American Economic Review]]'', 71(2), 405–409.</ref> For Lessig, privacy breaches online can be regulated through code and law.  Lessig claims that "the protection of privacy would be stronger if people conceived of the right as a property right," and that "individuals should be able to control information about themselves".<ref>Lessig, L. (2006). Code: Version 2.0. New York, U.S.: Basic Books.</ref> Economic approaches to privacy make communal conceptions of privacy difficult to maintain.

[[Adam D. Moore]] has argued that privacy, the right to control access to and use of personal information is closely connected to human well-being. He notes that "having the ability and authority to regulate access to and uses of locations, bodies, and personal information, is an essential part of human flourishing" and while "the forms of privacy may be culturally relative . . . the need for privacy is not."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Privacy Rights: Moral and Legal Foundations By Adam D. Moore |url=https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-03685-4.html |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=www.psupress.org}}</ref>