I have been working on a definition of privacy for an article on ethics. This is what I have come up with so far. Privacy is:
The control individuals and other entities have at reducing vulnerabilities;
Caused by transactions and processing of their human, personal, and social identifying data;
Across all times, contexts, and purposes.
It is therefore a loss of control over an individual’s identity which leads to increased vulnerability and personal stress to the individual. This definition therefore incorporates the control individuals and other entities (such as researchers) have over the future processing and transference of any identity laden data, for whatever reason(s), and by whom(s). Note here the inclusion of “identifying data” in then definition, as those data which are truly not traceable back to specific individuals negate the management of vulnerabilities, such as stigmatization, identity fraud, harassment, discrimination, mental/emotional distress, damage to reputation, and loss of opportunities. This definition also acknowledges that many aspects of identity, such as whether someone is a human (vs a robot or AI for instance), their personal identity (what makes them unique), and their social identity (the groups they belong to such as “father”, “British” etc.) may be embedded in any data. Finally, this definition highlights the role other entities (such as researchers) have in being data stewards, being equally responsible for reducing the vulnerabilities caused by any data sharing and processing of identifying information