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Writer's pictureEmma White

Privacy: Protecting your right to live with dignity and autonomy

Diving into the modern day implication of the UDHR'S 12th Article, your right to privacy.


 


Privacy of individuals is being breached every single day.


Technology accesses our personal information which hackers and faulty programming can use nefariously.


People's homes are being broken into; individuals are being stalked and surveyed.


Government's are inappropriately collecting data on their citizen's intimate affairs.


None of this is acceptable.


The 12th Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays this out succinctly.


Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Why is your privacy so important?


A report by the Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC) states:


"Privacy underpins human dignity and other key values such as freedom of association and freedom of speech."


Any breach of privacy breaks implicit and explicit societal trust. People trust their fellow humans and governments to respect their right to a personal, private, and dignified life.

Upholding privacy allows for an individual's personal autonomy, property, and relationships to be protected from malicious manipulations.


In most countries around the world, says the GILC, state constitutions recognize the right to privacy of individuals in some form. If not in the constitution, legal systems build define the right to privacy in legal provisions. International treaties exist to protect privacy as well.


Effectively protecting privacy, however, is a societal uphill battle.


 

Technological advances are happening all around the world. We live in the Digital Age! Our social connectivity is an international web of data, screens, and users.


However, access to tech such as computer and phones and the internet comes the cost of our personal information being vulnerable to privacy violation.


People share personal information in order to access websites and businesses: consider how much Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Amazon knows about you.


Check out this video explaining what vulnerabilities your privacy faces both online and in the physical world.





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