Politicizing privacy: focusing events and the dynamics of conflict
Date
2001
Authors
Todd, David Jeffrey Allan
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Abstract
In the past, the issue of information privacy has rarely captured the attention of the political agenda beyond the enactment of national data protection regimes. However, there is compelling evidence to suggest that privacy is an "issue whose time has come". While analysis of the politics of privacy has tended to examine the various dimensions of the policy cycle, a rationalistic and technocratic approach obscures the often neglected and politically salient dimensions of privacy: the politicization of privacy issues and the dynamics of privacy conflicts. To explore this notion, two recent high-profile privacy conflicts are presented, one in the public sector of Canada over Human Resource Development Canada's 'Longitudinal Labour Force File', and one in the private sector involving the Internet advertiser DoubleClick Inc. Evidence of shared processes and similar dynamics is presented, as well as insights into the new politics of privacy and the emergence of a privacy industry.