Covered by LiveLaw: here

Introduction

For many of us, privacy seems like an abstract idea and a right only for the rich & powerful. However, we all engage in countless daily activities, which we wouldn’t share with everyone. Even our mundane activities like the way we eat, what we wear, how we talk or even sneeze are always different in the comfort of our homes than in public places. When we anticipate scrutiny by random people or perhaps even from select family members, it forces us to change our usual behaviour. This thought grazes the importance of personal space and how it provides the luxury to behave in a manner that makes us most comfortable.

Before exploring the “whys” of privacy, let’s quickly touch upon the most common argument against it: If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide. This famous argument was coined by Joseph Gebbel (Adolf Hitler’s Officer of Propaganda), who helped brainwash millions of people. The success of this statement is because of its compelling appearance. Hence if kept in mind, it would ensure critical thinking in this discussion.

Privacy From A Personal Lens

We will examine the effect of intrusion of privacy on our personal lives by looking at it from two different angles and avoiding any abstract ideas or legal jargon:

1. Would you want your neighbour to know more about your Partner or Child?

We interact with our spouses, colleagues, family every day, yet we often distance a part of ourselves from each one of them. Usually, we wouldn’t tell our employer that we are looking for a new job or will avoid giving an ill family member bad news or won’t let our partner know that we didn’t like their gift or their new attire. We put up these barriers either to protect ourselves, others or just because we feel it’s too “private”. By owning our information, we exercise our right to privacy.

Remember: There is a dignity in solitude even in husband-wife (Puttaswamy Judgement)

Whenever we feel vulnerable in our personal life or professional, we share only among our loved ones. It’s because we feel hostile when people shower us with their uncalled wisdom, acting like they know better or would have done differently. We might find good advice, but we all have seen those Twitter storms & YouTube comments where people love to slander. People judge badly, hastily, out of context, without listening to the whole story and with – hypocrisy.

The fear of criticism forces us to modify our actions to meet the expectations of society (societal orthodoxy). If planning to abort or adopt instead of reproducing, we’ll keep the conversations private. Lack of privacy could intimidate us into changing our decision just to “fit in”. Or imagine planning something unorthodox like being a standup comedian. The moment this thought touches the mind, it will be shut by the plethora of negative comments and the fear of embarrassment in case of failure. Privacy allows us to explore new ideas, which others might not (immediately) recognise – different sexuality, change of career etc. Its intrusion forces us into societal orthodoxy, creating a mental prison and distancing us from the things we love.

Every relation has some uniqueness within – it might be a distinct way of speaking to our partner, or a funny tone while interacting with our sibling. These ingredients make these relationships “special”. Access to this information and there is no stopping for any random person to act with our families as we do. This affects the sense of “feeling special” in a relationship, shaking the fabrics of these connections and making way for the question “What’s so special about you ?”

Remember: What we keep private and what we share is what makes us desirable, funny, popular, mysterious, charming and, it is what defines our personality.

We all postpone arguments in a public place not because they are illegal or immoral but to avoid creating an awkward or embarrassing situation. No one would want their parents or spouse to complain via a Tweet. Hence, privacy isn’t about hiding a crime but hiding this personal space.

Our family better understands us as they know our history, likes & dislikes and how we respond to situations. These aspects together define who we are. But technology can understand them too and remember them far more effectively. With no restrictions, we allow anyone from our friend, neighbour to a con man to know more about our spouse or our child than we know. What ice cream our children like; Which route our child or spouse travels through; Access to our family’s live location; Information of our assets. Do we want to live in a world where people know – what our spouse dislikes about us or the last argument we had with our child? How safe is it for everyone to know about the differences within our family? Wouldn’t this make us, our relationships and, more importantly, family – vulnerable and exposed for anyone to abuse and exploit?

Remember: The argument isn’t that “we have something to hide”, but it is that “we have a lot to protect” – our identity, children, spouse, relationships, finance, business and – our thoughts.

2. Lack of Privacy: Turning Companies into Puppeteers

The saying “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product” applies especially to social media platforms. We often attempt to reduce our endless scrolling of social media feeds but fail. Every action we take on the internet is watched, analysed and stored forever. It enables the companies to manipulate our behaviour and keep us engaged. Actions like our Google searches; the emails we send & receive or the ones left in drafts; our tweets and posts; videos we watch; the people we interact with; and even which photo we zoomed in.

More scary is that the companies even analyse how we draft a message, tweet or email; how many times we press that backspace, reword a sentence or change the tone of the message. It allows companies access to our thought process, enabling them to build our digital identity. This secret identity exposes us to skilful manipulations which are hard to detect. Companies are known to run social experiments where they influence people by introducing them to more negative posts than they would otherwise be.

Interesting Fact: A CEO of a tech giant who previously claimed that “if you haven’t done anything wrong, you wouldn’t care to hide it”, ended up buying four houses adjacent to his home for “privacy”.

A person is far more susceptible to manipulations by exploiting insecurities. A person conscious about their appearance will more likely surrender to suggestions of stylish, expensive clothes. Algorithms decide what posts we see and in which order. In silos, they appear harmless, but the danger comes with the way these posts together build a narrative. A person uncomfortable with their body can be deviously persuaded into buying a yearly gym membership. It can be done by showing a curated list of “Be Healthy” posts and a bunch of ads selling that gym membership. All this gives them tremendous power to command our behaviour.

Without privacy, a personal message to our spouse, hinting that we are sad, can be analysed by the app within seconds. This information can then be misused by our food aggregators nudging us via mobile notification to order our favourite dessert, and we likely will. Companies can pull us into behaviours they desire by exploiting us during our unfortunate times via timely and meaningful posts specifically targeted to us. Hence, protecting privacy is not about hiding information, but it’s about the ability to be free from undetected, unwarranted influence.

Remember: The more someone knows about you, the more power they have over you.

Imagine if anytime we delay on our loan installment, the lender texts all our contacts to shame us into paying. Companies have done this in the past, and it will be a norm in a world without privacy. Lack of privacy leads to this arbitrary behaviour. Companies have notoriously bumped up hotel and flight booking costs for users under the pretext of “dynamic pricing” only because they have an expensive device.

Offline companies aren’t that behind and often wander into private spaces. In one creepy instance, a retail store analysed a girl’s purchases and found out about her pregnancy before her parents & family. Imagine the emotional turmoil for the family, where a random person knows such intimate details about the girl but not her family.

The shameless breach of privacy, if not stopped, will command all areas of our life. How would you feel if the next time you eat that juicy cheeseburger or drink that delicious scotch, your insurance company increases the premium? Or if you often go on treks, prefer lift over stairs, or take sugar. If companies are allowed to evaluate every aspect of our lives, we are consenting to a world where a person sitting at their desks, writes algorithms that will decide the maximum number of sugar crystals we are allowed to order with our coffee.

Remember: The more private information that is known, the easier it becomes to influence, convince, cajole, or threaten people.

Be Vigilant

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A Thought Experiment

For the next couple of days, assume that all your friends & family members are – watching all your actions & listening to all your conversations. And then examine – if those actions behind the closed bedroom doors or the conversations you have with your loved ones change?

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