Definitions: Privacy

Definition

Privacy regards the amount of information that a person or organization wishes for the outside world to access. People’s views of what is considered to be private vary, but there are laws to govern certain aspects of personal privacy.

The very term “privacy” can also take on different meanings within different contexts. For example, physical privacy might concern a person’s physical space or body; organizational privacy would relate to companies, agencies, or organizations that wish to keep activities secret; and informational privacy might deal with keeping data about a person or an organization away from others who might try to misuse such information.

Business applications

In terms of business and technology, most thoughts about privacy relate to informational or data privacy. In the Internet age, privacy battles have ensued in the areas of music, movies, healthcare records, and even financial data. Many government acts and laws have been passed to protect such integral information. Companies must often meet rigorous  compliance measures to ensure that its data, in all its forms, is kept safe.

Concerns

Of course, in terms of privacy, the largest concern is how to protect it. The most globally accepted explanation of a human’s rights of privacy is spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the United States, personal privacy is governed by the Privacy  Act of 1974.