Internet Privacy : Home

Why Privacy Matters

Advertising Dystopia 

A Future Without Privacy

Privacy Vs. Monetization

Filter Bubbles

Digital Tattoo

Privacy is essential for us to generate new ideas and freely formulate our conception of self. Conversely, Surveillance demeans us as persons by influencing our behaviors, often toward the desired outcomes. Surveillance also deters us from engaging with new, radical, or potentially subversive ideas. But what exactly is this thing we call privacy? And, if surveillance poses a threat to human dignity, why do we so often opt to pay for online services by subjecting ourselves to endless monitoring and behavior analysis?

Privacy remains one of the most important social concepts that resists clear definition. The term is "endlessly elastic" (Igo, The Known Citizen) often taking on religious, philosophical, social, political, legal, and psychological dimensions. Moreover, we tend to feel that privacy is important, yet we are not in agreement as to how it should be protected. Yet, "If we are interested in the development of new ideas and new, original speech, we must safeguard the process of intellectual explorations and belief formation by providing a meaningful guarantee of intellectual privacy" (Richards, Intellectual Privacy).

This resource contains media exploring the concept of privacy, whether and how it should be protected, and concrete steps you can take to enhance your privacy in online spaces