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Balancing Privacy with Competing Values in Gathering Personal Information

  • Informatization Policy
  • Abbr : 정보화정책
  • 2003, 10(4), pp.73-91
  • Publisher : NIA
  • Research Area : Social Science > Public Policy

Dong-Won Kim 1

1인천대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

This study is based on the idea that privacy is relative constitutional rights rather than absolute ones. It identifies personal information as including three competitive values: personal values, social values, and economic values. It also aims to propose policy implications for their balances. To do so, competition was classified into two cases. On the one hand, as government gathered personal information on citizens, personal values competed with social values. On the other, as businesses collected personal information on customers, personal values competed with economic values. In each case, public policies themselves tended to focus on personal values increasingly rather than on social and economic values. However, in the process of policy implementation, the needs for those oppressed values would be fulfilled in invisible and expedient ways. To gather personal information, law enforcement authorities depended on the records of telecommunication companies as wire-tapping was heavily regulated. The central government delegated the collection of personal information to local governments, which were less affected by external control. While businesses hold back gathering information on adults, they gathered increasingly more information on children, the weak. To ensure fair review processes, the study proposed not only a unified and independent supervisory committee but also the Public Interest Determination Procedure. It also introduced the British notification system to make the flow of personal information transparent.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.