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Privacy and libraries

This article explores the concept of privacy in libraries, discussing its definition, significance, and various scenarios. It also highlights the tension between privacy and surveillance and the need for confidentiality in library services.

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Privacy and libraries

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  1. Privacy and libraries Dr. donna Bair-Mundy

  2. Justice Louis Brandeis “Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” Olmstead v. United States (dissent)

  3. Topics What is privacy? Why do we need it? Privacy in Libraries Discussion of scenarios

  4. Discussion questions: What is privacy? Why do we need it?

  5. Informational privacy - Westin's definition - part 1 Privacy is the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others. Control Westin, Alan F. 1970. Privacy and freedom. London: Bodley Head.

  6. Informational privacy - Westin's definition - part 2 Viewed in terms of the relation of the individual to social participation, privacy is the voluntary and temporary withdrawal of a person from the general society through physical or psychological means, either in a state of solitude or, when among larger groups, in a condition of anonymity or reserve. Choice Temporal Varied means

  7. Informational privacy - Westin's definition - part 3 The individual's desire for privacy is never absolute, since participation in society is an equally powerful desire. Ongoing dialectic

  8. Informational privacy - Westin's definition - part 4 Thus each individual is continually engaged in a personal adjustment process in which he balances the desire for privacy with the desire for disclosure and communication of himself to others, in light of the environmental conditions and social norms set by the society in which he lives. Social norms

  9. Informational privacy - Westin's definition - part 5 The individual balances the desire for privacy with the desire for disclosure and communication of himself to others] in the face of pressures from the curiosity of others and from the processes of surveillance that every society sets in order to enforce its social norms. Privacy v. Surveillance

  10. Privacy an old concern Halakhah (Jewish law) Proscriptions on: Physical intrusion Visual surveillance Aural surveillance Talmud Walls between houses to be a certain height Creditor may not enter person’s house Ancient Roman law (Justinian’s Pandects) Prohibition against going into a home and dragging out the person Hippocratic oath No disclosure of what in practice seen or heard that “ought never be published abroad”

  11. Release from tensions of life in society requires release from pressure of playing social roles Westin's privacy theory: 4 functions of privacy Power to define the boundaries of the “core self” Personal autonomy Emotional release Self-evaluation Limited & protected communication Need to integrate experiences into meaningful pattern; essential for creativity Share confidences and intimacies only with those one trusts Westin, Alan F. 1970. Privacy and freedom. London: Bodley Head.

  12. Individual privacy versus individual secrecy Privacy Allowed and in some cases required for socially-sanctioned acts. Stress reducing. Secrecy Involves socially proscribed acts. Stress inducing. Margulis, Stephen T. 1977. Conceptions of privacy: current status and next steps. Journal of social issues 33(3):5-21, p. 10. Margulis, Stephen T. 2003. Privacy as a social issue and behavioral concept. Journal of social issues 59(2):243-261.

  13. Us Us Us Us Election day Us Them

  14. On the network news: Ayman al-Zawahiri

  15. So you do a search . . .

  16. A few days later . . . How do you feel?

  17. USA PATRIOT Act & Libraries • June 8, 2004 – FBI demands list from Deming branch of Whatcom County Library System of everyone who had borrowed a biography of Osama bin Laden since November 2001. • Library refused. • 15 days later, FBI withdrew its request.

  18. Privacy in Libraries

  19. ALA on Confidentiality • The First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and of the press requires that the corresponding rights to hear what is spoken and read what is written be preserved, free from fear of government intrusion, intimidation, or reprisal. • In seeking access or in the pursuit of information, confidentiality is the primary means of providing the privacy that will free the individual from fear or intimidation or retaliation.

  20. Browser history

  21. Internet station sign-up sheet When records are no longer needed, destroy them!

  22. Minimizing browser history (1)

  23. Minimizing browser history (2)

  24. Web Server Log

  25. Web Server Statistics Who: Countries ... Full list ... Regions ... Cities Hosts ... Full list ... Last visit Authenticated users ... Full list ... Last visit Navigation: Visits duration Viewed Operating Systems Browsers Referrers: Origin ... Referring search engines ... Referring sites Search ... Search Keyphrases ... Search Keywords

  26. OPAC report—searches OPAC Logging Report DATE TYPE SEARCH STRING LIMIT LIMIT_STRING INDEX HITS 9/28/01 Keyword harry potter N K 4068 9/28/01 Author tolkein N LOCA=Main Library B 1 9/28/01 Keyword birds N K 2863 9/28/01 Keyword alligators N LOCA=Main Library K 30 9/28/01 Complex (NKEY alligators) AND N K 0 (TKEY "crocodiles") 9/28/01 Complex (TKEY rats) AND N K 103 (TKEY "mice") 9/28/01 Keyword osama bin laden N K 37

  27. UH Library

  28. Log in screen

  29. What can we do? (ALA tips) • Conduct privacy audits • Identify the type and nature of all records and files that contain library patron and user personally identifiable information • Establish a schedule for the retention of records and files containing library patron and user personally identifiable information • Detail the specific steps staff should follow in responding to investigatory requests for patron and user personally identifiable information from governmental agencies

  30. What can we do? (2) • Be aware of privacy policies • FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/privacy.htm • Google: http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html • Anti-spyware software • Scrub your data

  31. Discussion time Scenarios

  32. Types of privacy in law Informational privacy Decisional privacy Control of access to information about a person or group of persons Freedom to make personal decisions without interference from government Privacy Act of 1974 Roe v. Wade 1973 Gormley, Ken. 1992. One hundred years of privacy. Wisconsin law review Sept/Oct 1992:1335-1441.

  33. Re-thinking constitutional privacy 1964- U.S. Senate Long Subcommittee Hearings on surveillance activities by federal agencies; first looked at IRS

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