Relational Privacy: A new conception of privacy as a condition for living an autonomous life

Abstract

The most popular definition for privacy is to have control over access others have to you. Especially when we discuss privacy as a condition for living an autonomous life, control over access is seen as an appropriate description. However, in this thesis I will show that there are many examples of privacy infringements that cannot adequately be explained by this definition. In this paper I will formulate a new definition of privacy. This definition should be able to describe the function of privacy as a condition for relational autonomy. It will be a relational definition of privacy. I will first compare theories of privacy as inaccessibility with privacy as control over access to see where both fail. I will then discuss the theory of Beate Rössler on privacy and autonomy. I will argue that by describing how privacy is a condition for a relational conception of autonomy, Rössler made a first and necessary step to a new definition of privacy, though she herself still holds to defining privacy as control. I will propose a new definition of privacy as the literal and metaphorical space one needs for self-reflection. I will argue that this definition has the advantages of the access- and control-view of privacy, while better fit to the function of privacy as Rössler describes it. Finally, I will show how this definition of relational privacy works in practice, by applying it to both the debates on data mining and self-tracking technologies.