Relational privacy and the networked governance of the self

ABSTRACT

The self today is networked, and governed through networks. This paper examines the four functions of privacy as set out by privacy theorist Alan Westin [1967. Privacy and freedom. New York: Atheneum] and works to construct a revised view of the functions of privacy in a networked world by drawing on feminist theories of relationality. Many basic ideas about privacy, drawn from the Western liberal tradition, have been challenged, redrawn, and re-conceptualized by feminist philosophers of relationality. In section one, this paper defines the ‘networked governance of the self’ and outlines the feminist relational approach, drawing the concepts of networked governance and relationality together. In section two, the paper elaborates a relational perspective on networked privacy, set up against Westin’s traditional formulation of the roles that privacy plays in democratic society. According to Westin, privacy (1) provides a realm of personal autonomy; (2) creates opportunities for emotional release; (3) permits a zone of self-evaluation; and (4) permits limited and protected forms of communication. The paper elaborates a relational perspective on the functions of privacy, emphasizing the importance of relational privacy to the networked governance of the self.

KEYWORDS:

• Privacy
• relationality
• networked governance
• relational autonomy

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Rebekah Johnston, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Research Assistants Angela Orasch and Sheen Jary.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Sara Bannerman, Canada Research Chair in Communication Policy and Governance, is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at McMaster University in Canada. She has published two books on international copyright: International Copyright and Access to Knowledge (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and The Struggle for Canadian Copyright: Imperialism to Internationalism, 1842–1971 (UBC Press, 2013), as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on international copyright, international copyright history, and other topics in new media, traditional media, and communications theory. Bannerman is a Vice Chair of the Law Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). [email: [email protected]]

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canada Research Chairs program under [grant number 950-231159] and McMaster University.