bigideas

Having a right to privacy seems to mean that we can keep things to ourselves. It means we can socialise only with people we choose to, and limits the demands others can make on us and we on them. But is privacy really valuable in a democratic society and, if so, why? Should each person be an island, allowing across their bridges only those who have explicit permission? Or should we aspire to live more openly, more communally and with fewer secrets? When, if ever, is it okay to compromise someone’s privacy? How far, in any case, does our right to privacy extend? At previous Big Ideas events we’ve discussed democracy (with Alasdair Mackenzie of Hansard) and online identity (with Andrew Edgar of Cardiff University) and this session should give us an opportunity to draw out some of those themes and explore them. Privacy is certainly a live issue with real implications; it looks like something we should all care about. Annabelle Lever is a Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics, in addition to posts at other institutions. Her latest book is On Privacy, forthcoming from Routledge.