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Joe Sarabia
CST 373
Paper 1: Personal Concepts of Privacy
September 6, 2016

My Concepts of Privacy

I believe that privacy is an inherent right for all people and that it should be fiercely

protected and only be restricted or violated in a narrow set of circumstances where piercing the

veil of privacy would prevent substantial harm to oneself or to others. In the case where such

harm would only involve oneself, I believe the bar protecting privacy should be set even higher:

aside from circumstances that may cause immediate and permanent disfigurement, disability or

death, I think there are very few cases where individual privacy should be violated.

In a practical sense, I believe that each individual has the right to keep their actions

private. Furthermore, I believe that it should not be the role of government or other institutions to

influence or control private actions. Attempts by some governing party to legislate morality by

criminalizing what they deem to be undesirable behavior is, in my opinion, an egregious example

of a privacy violation. Fundamentally, I believe that an individual should be able to do what they

want in their own home without fear of government interference or criminalization with the

stipulation that it adheres to the aforementioned proviso regarding harmfulness. In addition, I

believe that individuals should not be compelled to disclose information about their actions in

exchange for some perceived or actual benefit, or punished or otherwise disadvantaged by

withholding such information, such as might occur with authority figures of religious

organization as part of some ritualized practice.

I believe that individuals have a right to keep information about themselves private. This

includes uniquely identifying biometric characteristics such as fingerprints, retinal mapping or

corneal topography, voiceprints and DNA. I believe that the capture and storage of this
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information should be closely guarded and generally should not be shared with 3rd parties. I

believe that routinely or systematically capturing this information is a breach of privacy, and

should only occur in a narrow set of circumstances such as in the aid of certain law enforcement

activities or when some form of high assurance authentication is necessary to validate identity. I

also believe that a right to privacy extends to personal information around health care, including

health activities and health conditions. I believe that this information should not be disclosed to

any 3rd party without the express consent of the individual.

Multiple external forces influenced the early formation of my beliefs about privacy,

including my family and my living situation. I grew up as an only child and primarily as a

latchkey kid. I had a few half-siblings and step-siblings but they all lived with other parents and I

only saw them occasionally, typically on holidays. Consequently, I had my own room for as long

as I can remember, starting out in a 2-bedroom apartment in my earliest memories to the

townhome we lived in which I moved out of after high school. My dad was a teacher at a local

adult school and worked nights almost exclusively while my mom worked nights for a few years

when I was young and later on had a busy social schedule that often kept her away from home.

Their schedules meant that I was regularly secluded at home during my elementary school years

for extended periods of time. I think this situation had a rather profound impact on my early

ideas of privacy. While I wasnt explicitly thinking of things in terms of privacy at this young

age, I certainly do recall enjoying having the freedom to do as I pleased after school, and lets be

honest, it wasnt always homework keeping me busy: I developed an early and fervent

appreciation for video games and my computer, although growing up in the mid 1980s meant

that the computer wasnt getting me in much trouble, yet.

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As I got older and started junior high school, my parents were around more after school,

but I still generally enjoyed a high degree of privacy. They didnt harass me much while I was in

my room nor did they make a big deal about me being in my room with my door closed. I had a

decently sized room and for many years I had a futon, so it was like a living room and bedroom

combined with a stereo, TV and video games. It was everything I needed to stay entertained, so

just as in my earlier years I tended to spend most of my time at home in my room with little

scrutiny on my actions. This is about the first time that I recall thinking specifically about

privacy from the perspective of seclusion and secrecy. I had a brief and unhealthy flirtation with

quasi-pyromania at one point after discovering that hairspray was flammable. I would spray

some on random pieces of furniture and light it on fire. It was pretty stupid, but I remember

thinking that was something I could do while I was in my room and most definitely wanted to

keep it secret from my parents knowing that there would be undesirable consequence if they

were to find out; and they should have known to the harm my actions could have caused.

Around this same age is when I first noticed cultural impacts on my views towards

privacy. My mom is Caucasian of mixed European descent and my dad and his wife are both

Mexican. Spending time with my moms side of the family, growing up was an occasional affair

where everybody got together maybe 5 times a year. Topics of conversation were mostly of a

superficial nature and there were many family secrets. It was around this time I started spending

time with my dads side of the family, and I immediately realized that it was a completely

different family culture: family was an every day affair. On any given day, you might have a

handful of cousins and aunts and uncles around, and they were always keen to know the inner

workings of my life in significant detail. For the latchkey hermit of a kid that I had grown up as,

this initially was jarring and felt invasive. Over time, though, I grew accustom to the notion that
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instead of being completely closed off that I had control over my privacy and that I could

disclose those aspects that I felt comfortable with. In fact, I grew to enjoy the advice from family

and the personal growth that came along from selective but regular disclosure of my private

details.

After high school, I joined the Marine Corps, and my ideas of privacy were completely

shattered on many fronts. I remember first walking into my assigned room when I was stationed

at Camp Pendleton and was shocked to see that there were two sets of bunk beds in my room.

After growing up with my own personal space for years, I was alarmed at the circumstance, and

felt that it would violate my sense of personal privacy; however, shortly thereafter I was

transferred to a new barracks that had two single beds and my assigned roommate lived with his

girlfriend, so my sense of personal space was quickly restored. Nevertheless, even though I had a

room essentially to myself, I still had to share a bathroom with the room next door, and even this

felt like my privacy was being invaded to some degree.

The most challenging part of Marine Corps life, though, from a living space perspective

and the lack of privacy thereof was the room inspections. As far as I know, my parents didnt

have a habit of searching my room, so I felt comfortable keeping boxes of notes and letters in a

shoebox under my bed and, just in case, I had a small safe to hold my most personal effects. In

the Marine Corps, I was afforded no such courtesy. Everybody living in the barracks was

subjected to weekly room inspections, and there was no such thing as locking something that

they couldnt open. In fact, when you sign the contract, youre basically signing your life and

your privacy away. Indubitably, this experience fundamentally shaped my views of privacy.

Living under the control of a government entity for fours years and the lack of privacy that

ensued dramatically influenced and enforced my belief that privacy is a fundamental right that
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should be protected. Although it certainly serves a purpose in the case of the military to curtail

the privacy of its members, once I experienced both ends of the spectrum, I felt resolute in

protecting privacy as opposed to limiting it.

It wasnt until years later that my views of privacy around my personal space evolved

further. About 9 years ago, 1 year after meeting my now wife, we moved in together. This was

my first experience permanently cohabitating with somebody in the same room really ever in my

life. This experience forced me to acclimate to a less secluded type of lifestyle and become more

comfortable with actions and information that I had previous been very private about. However,

cohabitation is not without its challenges at times. It took my wife many years to understand why

I would want passwords on my phones and on my computers and why I wouldnt share them

with her. This forced me to be able to articulate my positions around privacy and the importance

of preserving personal information. Just because I defend privacy doesnt mean that I have

anything to hide, and that took awhile for me to explain and for her to understand.

The final element that has influenced my view on privacy is technology. I have worked in

the Information Technology field for the last 17 years, and I have borne witness to numerous

circumstances where technology can be used either to protect or to violate the privacy of

individuals. A prime example is database information that is not properly secured; this can

expose identifying information or health records or a variety of other private details. As a result

of this experience and my views, I have resolved to leverage technology to secure the privacy of

others to the best of my ability in the daily performance of my job responsibilities.

My views on privacy have evolved throughout my life via a myriad of different

influences. I believe that technology will continue to drive the biggest privacy questions and

concerns over the next few years, and I intend to keep a close eye on how these issues develop.