The Meaning of Privacy in the Digital Era

Abstract

The key research objective of the current study is to answer the following research question: Why is ‘privacy' a contested concept that is hard to define? In doing so, the study will raise awareness of the contemporary meaning of ‘privacy' in relation to cyber activities and to draw attention to the need for developing the right to cyber privacy and its legal protection. Hence, the current study has embarked on analysing the meaning of privacy in general, and the meaning of cyber or online privacy in particular. As a result, privacy has been found to be a perennially contestable concept, and this is exacerbated by the ever more rapidly developing digital world and also by the diverse perceptions which vary across societies, cultures, and generations. This has created a big challenge for regulators and legislators to define a specific privacy right that can be accorded with a legal protection against violations across national and international jurisdictions. However, the right to privacy has been found to be vague and open to multiple, competing interpretations.