DEFINITION

Privacy is a concept that allows individuals to keep certain information regarding their private life protected from public disclosure. This information may regard religion, health etc. and data concerning this information are subject to strict rules in Europe. EU countries are signatories to the Human Rights Convention that equally guarantees privacy.

IMPACT ON E-BUSINESS

Privacy comes into play where on the one hand, data of individuals are processed,on the other, businesses want to improve their clients' profiles. Privacy issues and data protection are governed by Directive 95/46/EC that lays down under which circumstances which data may be collected, processed, retained and forwarded. Privacy is less strictly regulated in the USA and other parts in the world. Some consider privacy as a contradiction to freedom of speech (e.g. when newspaper disclose private information) or security. The latter foresees exceptional situations that overrule privacy laws such as the public interest or, recently, terrorism.
Another infringement to privacy may be caused by Monitoring Workplace.

RELATED ISSUES

Data Protection
Monitoring Workplace
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