Apparently, Europeans see the right to privacy as a fundamental right, while Americans tend to value freedom more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/weekinreview/28liptak.html?ref=weekinreview
This raises interesting questions about how accommodating ISPs should be, and whether they are responsible for adapting to these regional differences in opinions of fundamental rights. Personally, I don't think it's so much of a policy issue as it is a business model issue - you tailor you product to your market. However, others may disagree.
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Great find, Reese.
ReplyDeleteComparative analyses of American versus European conceptions of privacy are fascinating. Which one do you favor?
"Americans [think about] privacy . . . as an aspect of liberty and a protection against government overreaching, particularly into the home. Continental privacy protections, by contrast, focus on protecting people from having their lives exposed to public view, especially in the mass media."
It's especially interesting (in my view) to consider how the different historical experiences of the two regions have shaped the differences in how they think about privacy.
For those interested, the article by Yale Law School's Professor James Whitman that the NYT piece mentions is fascinating. (You can find it here: http://www.yalelawjournal.org/the-yale-law-journal/content-pages/the-two-western-cultures-of-privacy:-dignity-versus-liberty/).