INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND PRIVACY

This chapter reviews computer information systems and their privacy. The concept of privacy is strongly dependent on the cultural and political context, and changes with time. Privacy, in one form or another, is basic to human relations. The concern about the ways in which modern technology affects privacy centers on the way information is gathered and also on the unsatisfactory practices for verifying, maintaining security on, and restricting the flow of information. Computers are primarily involved in these latter functions, but in examining the relation between computers and privacy, it is desirable to look at information gathering first, partly as background, and also because computers are often involved in the subsequent analysis. Devices designed for surveillance, wiretapping, and electronic eaves-dropping have been by far the most difficult to cope with in the matter of privacy. Computerized banking systems are just coming into use, and it is likely that they will grow and become general. It is significant that the Data Surveillance Bill is designed to deal with a specific type of damage, namely, that arising out of computerized credit reporting.