SP Seminar Series

Valerie Steeves, Department of Criminology,
University of Ottawa;
Why Data Protection Doesn't Work: Rethinking Westin's Theory of Privacy from a Social Perspective;
Thursday, February 14th, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411
12:30pm to 1:30pm.

Valerie Steeves
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa

Why Data Protection Doesn't Work: Rethinking Westin's Theory of Privacy from a Social Perspective

Thursday, February 14th
Location: Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D411
Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Over the past 30 years, legislators have used Westin's definition of privacy as informational control in order to provide citizens with protection from privacy-invasive practices on the part of governments and institutions. However, these laws have done little to constrain the growth of a surveillance state. This paper returns to Westin's original articulation of privacy theory, and seeks to explain why laws based on the notion of privacy as informational control are unable to adequately protect privacy as a social and a democratic value.

Dr. Steeves will argue that Westin's focus on the flow of information limits his original insights into the social nature of privacy; however, the work of Irving Altman and George Herbert Mead are useful correctives, and point to a definition of privacy as a socially negotiated boundary between the self and the other. From this perspective, data protection is an incomplete legislative response, and additional protections are needed to ensure proponents of surveillance remain democratically accountable.

Everyone welcome!