The Limits Of Privacy (The Kluwer International Series in Engineering & Computer Science)

If one seeks a current book that is creating great controversy in the public policy field of privacy rights, "The Limits of Privacy" should fulfill your search. This book combines philosophical discussions with actual issues and then draws its own conclusions. Whether one agrees or not with the author's opinions, this book definitely creates spirited debate.The author, Amitai Etzioni, is a leading proponent of the commutarian viewpoint. Commutarians argue that policies should consider what is best for the community while simultaneoulsy attempting to protect privacy rights. A balance needs to be established between these two goals as they often are in conflict. Amitai Etzioni argues that individual rights should be protected except when such preservation presents a clear threat to the community welfare.The author claims in this book there are public safety and health concerns which are adversely affected by attempts to defend personal privacy rights. Etzioni argues these concerns should be evaluated according to their moral, legal, and social aspects. In this book, the common good wins out over privacy issues in most of the issues presented, namly universal identification, Megan's law, testing infants for HIV, and encryption for online privacy. On examining the issue of the privacy of medical records, the author sides with the advocates of individual privacy versus the community welfare.The prescription for policy analysis, as presented by the author, is that privacy concerns should be considered first with policies restricting such persoanl privacy being accomplished with as minimal intrusion as possible. Crtics will argue the author seems to readily advocate proceeding with such intrusions.Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with each conclusion, most readers should find this an insightful book with coherent yet controversial arguments. It will spark much rich debate.

Since the 1960's, an emphasis on individualism and personal autonomy have shaped public policy debates, including debates about the right to personal privacy. While many scholars and advocacy groups claim that privacy is under seige, an alternate view of privacy exists, one in which it is weighed against other public interests. In The Limits of Privacy, Etzioni espouses a communitarian approach to determining the relative value and, as the title suggests, the limits of privacy. Privacy, the author argues, is not an absolute right, but is a right that must be carefully measured against the "common good," which for Etzioni is defined as public health and safety. At the heart of this book is the question of if and when we are justified in implementing measures that diminish privacy in the service of the common good.To answer this question and to identify criteria for evaluating the relative trade-offs between privacy and the common good, Etzioni examines several examples in which privacy, depicted as an individual right, is in conflict with societal responsibilities. Five public policy issues--namely the HIV testing of newborn babies, Megan's Laws, encryption and government wiretapping, biometric national ID cards, and the privacy of medical records--are examined in detail. Through his analysis, Etzioni attempts to prove that, in most cases, champions of privacy have actually done more harm than good by stifling innovation and curbing necessary democratic discussions about privacy. A notable exception is in the case of personal medical records: The author notes that, while "Big Brother" is normally associated with privacy violation, in the case of medical records, unregulated private industry, which Etzioni aptly coins "Big Bucks," is a pertinent and immediate threat.Etzioni's analysis, while flawed in several respects (e.g. Etzioni largely ignores evidence suggesting that national IDs will do more harm than good from a security perspective), results in four criteria that can be used in examining the tension between liberty and the public interest, or in this case privacy and public health and safety. The four criteria are as follows: First, society should take steps to limit privacy only if it faces a "well-documented and macroscopic threat" to the common good; second that society should identify and try any and all means that do not endanger privacy before restricting privacy; third, that privacy intrusions should have minimal impact; and fourth, that the undesirable side effects of privacy violations for the common good are treated (i.e. if a patient's medical record must be digitized and shared, the confidentiality of the record must be guaranteed).The Limits of Privacy is necessary reading for anyone involved in accepting, shaping, debating, and enacting privacy policies. While many readers, including this reviewer, disagree with many of Etzioni's proposed solutions to the problems he examines, his four criteria are useful for anyone attempting to understand the intracasies involved. Likewise, while Etzioni's views are contrary to many of his peers, whose arguments he credits in his analysis, his arguments for justifiable invasions of privacy are a useful foil for privacy advocates and a useful reminder that privacy issues will always present real and costly trade-offs.

If one seeks a current book that is creating great controversy in the public policy field, "The Limits of Privacy" should fulfill your search. This book combines philosophical discussions with actual issues and then draws its own conclusions. Whether one agrees or not with the author's opinions, this book definitely creates spirited debate. The author, Amitai Etzioni, is a leading proponent of the commutarian viewpoint. Commutarians argue that policies should consider what is best for the community while simultaneoulsy attempting to protect privacy rights. A balance needs to be established between these two goals as they often are in conflict. Amitai Etzioni argues that individual rights should be protected except when such preservation presents a clear threat to the community welfare. The author claims in this book there are public safety and health concerns which are adversely affected by attempts to defend personal privacy rights. Etzioni argues these concerns should be evaluated according to their moral, legal, and social aspects. In this book, the common good wins out over privacy issues in most of the issues presented, namly universal identification, Megan's law, testing infants for HIV, and encryption for online privacy. On examining the issue of the privacy of medical records, the author sides with the advocates of individual privacy versus the community welfare. The prescription for policy analysis, as presented by the author, is that privacy concerns should be considered first with policies restricting such persoanl privacy being accomplished with as minimal intrusion as possible. Crtics will argue the author seems to readily advocate proceeding with such intrusions. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with each conclusion, most readers should find this an insightful book with coherent yet controversial arguments. It will spark much rich debate.