{"id":69,"date":"2013-10-26T16:43:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-26T23:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colinschimmelfing.com\/blog\/?p=69"},"modified":"2013-11-11T23:56:09","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T07:56:09","slug":"change-the-narrative-privacy-should-be-considered-as-a-type-of-property-to-protect-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/colinschimmelfing.com\/blog\/change-the-narrative-privacy-should-be-considered-as-a-type-of-property-to-protect-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Change the narrative: privacy should be considered as a type of property to protect it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thinking about the recent Verizon\/PRISM\/Muscular releases, the StopWatchingUs protest, and seeing the same “I’ve got nothing to hide” argument come up again, I’ve been thinking that perhaps the way to solve this from a public image perspective is to change the narrative in society. Instead of fighting for privacy arguing about privacy’s intrinsic value, we can discuss privacy as a form of personal property and gain some of property’s protections for privacy.\u00a0That idea may have some cons, but perhaps could be useful to deflect the “nothing to hide” argument and to get moderates to join the fight for privacy online.\u00a0I would apologize to my law school friends for the bending of legal frameworks for my own ends, but after\u00a0Citizens United<\/em>\u00a0I don’t feel so bad doing it…<\/p>\n

Let’s think about the units we’d be talking about. I’ll define privacy as the ability to control who knows certain things about you, whether it is basic information like your address, or who you talk to (NSA-Verizon-ATT, Chevron and email<\/a>), or exactly what you look like naked (TSA scanners), to your inner beliefs and thoughts (unease with behavioral targeting).<\/p>\n

In our idea of a ‘privacy property’, each receipt of this information by a new individual or organization would be a new property transaction. You should have control over your own ‘privacy property’, regardless of who is communicating your information. For instance, if Google is handing over your data to an advertiser or the NSA, you would have control over whether that transaction is allowed. Similar to property, the government could appropriate your privacy in an emergency or a war situation, but everyday privacy violations would be illegitimate takings by the government.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s be clear, this regime would be very difficult to implement technically, but we are discussing how to change the public’s perception<\/em> of the issue, not necessarily advocating that this framework should be implemented.<\/p>\n

Quick Brainstorm of Pros and Cons:<\/h3>\n

Pros:<\/h4>\n