Beyond Information: Physical Privacy in English Law

Moreham, N. A.

doi:10.1017/s0008197314000427

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…While various typologies of privacy exist, the way that privacy was discussed by smart-home researchers can be seen to follow a division of privacy into ‘physical privacy’—avoiding unwanted sensory access—and ‘informational privacy’—avoiding the misuse of information [35, 36]. In support of such a division, NA Moreham [36] makes the plausible claim that watching or following a person breaches their privacy even if no information is obtained or circulated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers’ perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies

et al. 2017

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BackgroundSmart-home technologies, comprising environmental sensors, wearables and video are attracting interest in home healthcare delivery. Development of such technology is usually justified on the basis of the technology’s potential to increase the autonomy of people living with long-term conditions. Studies of the ethics of smart-homes raise concerns about privacy, consent, social isolation and equity of access. Few studies have investigated the ethical perspectives of smart-home engineers themselves. By exploring the views of engineering researchers in a large smart-home project, we sought to contribute to dialogue between ethics and the engineering community.MethodsEither face-to-face or using Skype, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 early- and mid-career smart-home researchers from a multi-centre smart-home project, who were asked to describe their own experience and to reflect more broadly about ethical considerations that relate to smart-home design. With participants’ consent, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using a thematic approach.ResultsTwo overarching themes emerged: in ‘Privacy’, researchers indicated that they paid close attention to negative consequences of potential unauthorised information sharing in their current work. However, when discussing broader issues in smart-home design beyond the confines of their immediate project, researchers considered physical privacy to a lesser extent, even though physical privacy may manifest in emotive concerns about being watched or monitored. In ‘Choice’, researchers indicated they often saw provision of choice to end-users as a solution to ethical dilemmas. While researchers indicated that choices of end-users may need to be restricted for technological reasons, ethical standpoints that restrict choice were usually assumed and embedded in design.ConclusionsThe tractability of informational privacy may explain the greater attention that is paid to it. However, concerns about physical privacy may reduce acceptability of smart-home technologies to future end-users. While attention to choice suggests links with privacy, this may misidentify the sources of privacy and risk unjustly burdening end-users with problems that they cannot resolve. Separating considerations of choice and privacy may result in more satisfactory treatment of both. Finally, through our engagement with researchers as participants this study demonstrates the relevance of (bio)ethics as a critical partner to smart-home engineering.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12910-017-0183-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In support of such a division, NA Moreham [36] makes the plausible claim that watching or following a person breaches their privacy even if no information is obtained or circulated. Setting aside the philosophical debates that this claim invites, there is a clear practical implication for those working in this field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers’ perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies

et al. 2017

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“…These activities are concerned with disclosure of information and the main objection in these disclosure cases is that there is someone finding something about you against your wishes and thus losing control of retaining private information. These ‘information finders’ can discover information about you, retain such information and ultimately disclose it (Moreham, 2014: 350, 354). This fourth category of Solove’s taxonomy acutely shows the element of intrusion and lies at its heart the idea of unwanted access.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Privacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An overview of the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (‘PDPO’) and local breach of confidence cases focus on usage and dissemination of information and it is submitted that privacy can also be breached irrespective of whether information is collected or disseminated. As noted by Moreham, privacy can be breached by unwanted watching, listening or recording, and a person’s physical privacy would still be intruded even though no information is being recorded or disseminated (Moreham, 2014: 350, 351). Examples include peering through a changing room using a telescope or surreptitiously taking a person’s photograph for one’s own enjoyment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of a privacy action against breaches of physical privacy in Hong Kong

Mo¹

2018

Common Law World Review

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The focus of privacy laws in Hong Kong has always been on the use and dissemination of personal or confidential information, but a person’s privacy can also be intruded by unwanted watching or listening irrespective of whether information is collected or used. Despite an attempt to introduce two privacy torts by the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong in 2004, there is no timetable as to when these two statutory torts be introduced. Recognition has been afforded for intrusions upon seclusion or solitude in a number of jurisdictions including New Zealand and the Canadian province of Ontario. In England, an intrusion tort has not been separately recognized, but the decision in Gulati v MGN confirmed that damages may still be awarded for an action for misuse of private information in instances where there is no disclosure or publication of the wrongfully acquired information. This article looks at the possibility of developing a common law action of privacy in Hong Kong which affords protection regardless of whether private information is acquired or published by drawing insights to the developments in New Zealand and England.

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“…Physical or bodily privacy on the other hand, has been comparatively less clearly defined and researched. We understand it as a sensory interference [7]: the intruder senses you against your wishes by watching/video recording, listening to, or touching you, which potentially leads to discomfort or even harassment. For example, the user may be unaware of the privacy threat (e.g., Figure 1a and b), or the user (aware or otherwise) may be unable to take mitigating action due to fear, shock, physical and mental weakness, or embarrassment [2] (e.g., Figure 1 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wearables for physical privacy

Mehta

Bandara

Price

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing: Adjunct

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Physical or bodily privacy is an innate need that drives a variety of human behaviours. However, in a highly dynamic, crowded and context dependent world with rapidly changing technology, other humans or technological devices can pose threats to the physical privacy of an individual in many ways. This short paper explores the use of wearable devices to tackle this multi-faceted problem. Author KeywordsPhysical privacy; User privacy management; Haptic warnings; Wearable computing; On-body interfaces. ACM Classification Keywords

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Beyond Information: Physical Privacy in English Law

Cited by 16 publications

References 6 publications

Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers’ perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies

Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers’ perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies

In search of a privacy action against breaches of physical privacy in Hong Kong

Wearables for physical privacy

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