The Right of Privacy (EWA #4)

The authors of "The Right to Privacy" would have been undoubtly terrified if they were to live today. I would believe their main concern would be how easy you could use a smartphone to take a picture or record people against their will or knowledge.

Brandeis and Warren believed that it was the right of the individual to retreat from the world, and sometimes, it is not very clear what Facebook or other social media companies do with the data of users once they decide to delete or suspend their profiles. It also implies that both authors would treat Apple and social media giants such as Facebook with suspicion "(...)but modern enterprise and invention have, through invasions upon his privacy, subjected him to mental pain(...)". Brandeis and Warren, however, will acknowledge that those individuals like Facebook would receive their data from willing users, even though, with several loopholes and fine prints all along. "The right to privacy ceases upon the publication of the facts by the individual, or with his consent"

They acknowledge also that data that it is intended for private use would definitely have the potential to destroy the reputation of individuals, and they would fiercely oppose the creation of a "Master Key", on which, in wrong hands, would create plenty of situations similar to the "iCloud - Jennifer Lawrence" fiasco. People would be on risk to lose their jobs as well, since private texts and messages could contain sensitive (and inflammatory) information, further destroying the reputation of the victim. This was a major concern of Brandeis and Lawrence, and it is repeated with plenty of examples on the article: letters and literacy work (such as personal diary entries or letters), artistic material, trademarked material, that Copyright laws were unable to protect entirely.