• for information
• for entertainment
• for personal identity
• for social interaction

What are some of the ways the media can (and do) invade your privacy?

• "news"

(think words... interviews... questioning)

(think pictures... video... electronic news gathering)

• business publications

phone directories (like ours at UWL!)

company newsletters

company promotions and videos, etc.

• computer-mediated communication

Social Security Administration

Computerized databases (credit cards, student loans...)

E-mail, Internet, etc. (what are the possibilities?)

• Common carriers

what about caller ID?

what about 911 ID?

• workplace surveillance/ security

employee monitoring (keystrokes, video, 'auditing')

what you can be "allowed" to do in assoc. w/ your job?

As we discuss privacy issues, we must discuss:

• The legal aspects

...what can the media legally do or not do

• The moral/ethical aspects

... if something is legal, is it "right" based on the system of morals we follow as a group or ethics we adhere to as individuals?

• The "good taste" aspects

... it is possible to do something which is legally correct; in line with our moral and ethical code; and still in bad taste.*

*Example: newspaper runs front page photo of the body of a child, lying in the street, after the child was hit and killed by drunk driver.

There are different ways of trying to resolve conflicts of privacy. One way is to consider Smith's Conflicting Obligations (from the text):

Journalists have the obligation to:

• Get the news out
• Show compassion to people they deal with
• Educate society

The trouble with these is.... ?

Another way is to look at the legal concerns involved, as in "The Four Torts" of the law. These are the four 'illegal' ways your privacy can be violated:

1. Appropriation of likeness without consent.

2. Intrusion on someone's solitude.

3. Publishing "private" information.

4. Putting someone in false light through publication.

The trouble with the "Four Torts" is.... ?

• Define "newsworthiness"?
• Define "solitude"?
• Define "private facts"?
• Define "false light"?

Then look to the U.S. Constitution for a guide, right?

1st Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press

4th Amendment: No unreasonable search/seizure

What do these say about "privacy"? (NOTHING)

Workplace issues

Many people spend 8 hours or more each day in a place where their privacy is routinely invaded. Workplace privacy violations occur through these - or other methods:

-drug screening (urine testing)

-camera surveillance

-keystroke monitoring

-telephone taps

-investigations into employees' personal lives

-Web or e-mail monitoring

-smoking cessation requirements

Employers claim that, especially given the high cost of insurance and medical care, it's critical that they know as much as possible about workers and their personal habits.

Employees claim that the need for information should not extend beyond exactly what must be known for them to perform on the job - nothing else.

Does an employer's need for a safe workplace justify asking intrusive (even psychological) questions? Does it justify requiring workers to take an AIDS test?

What happens when privacy can be invaded by new technology (e.g., miniature video cameras which are used to watch workers) and no law exists to protect workers in case of possible injury?

At what point must employers sacrifice potential profit to protect employees' privacy rights?

The bottom line for companies (often) is: Establish a policy and make people aware of it in the application process. If you monitor employees, tell people how you do - and what you look for. That way, people being hired will not assume (erroneously) that their privacy will not be invaded.

• If you screen e-mail, tell employees so.

(Sometimes people might assume that a password on their e-mail account means it's safe from outside eyes)

• If you videotape the premises, tell employees so.
• If you do drug screening, make it known when people apply.
• If you monitor keystrokes, make that fact known as you discuss criteria for hiring and training, promotion and advancement.

Write down the policy and make it a "document of record" so no one can say they did not know about it.

If you have a policy for 'invading people's privacy' you must also establish the specific ways in which it is done, conditions under which it takes place, facts it is designed to gather, etc. In other words, get an attorney to work with you FIRST on the policy, then implement it to "C Y A".