Privacy in the Computer Age

The issue of privacy in the computer age is a many-faceted problem and the complexities have been perceived and have made it evident that legislation is required to control and direct the development of databases and their use in order to protect individual rights. One of the issues of concern is that of privacy rights and how they may conflict in an age when masses of information on the individual is stored in computers of many different types and for many different purposes, with the potential that this information could be misused, released to non-authorized parties, or linked together to produce profiles of the individual that could then be misused or otherwise made into a violation of the individual's privacy rights.

The right of privacy has been protected in law at every level in various ways and in various degrees, and the computer age threatens the structure of protections because of the sophisticated technology involved and the degree to which it has permeated society. An examination of the way in which the issues have developed shows a patchwork of state actions directed at one aspect or another of the problem, and the variety proves the complexity of the issue. The variety also shows that there is a lack of coordination in addressing the matter and that this has resulted in conflicting laws in different jurisdictions. What is needed is a federal role that will make sense of the issue and that will rationalize the laws regarding privacy and comput

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mation sharing in government and considers judicial solutions, legislative solutions, administrative solutions and selects as best an administrative solution: "The creation of a federal agency with broad power to oversee the information processing of all other federal agencies could effectively prevent or remedy abuses. The legal community and the public at large must become educated in the dangers of privacy abuses and work toward the creation of such an agency" (p. 623). THE STATE RESPONSE Since the federal government has not yet fully addressed the issues involved in privacy and the computer age, various court decisions in the states can serve as an indication of the scope of the problem and point to some of the answers that have been given in different jurisdictions. This analysis should also show that there is no real coordination in these decisions and that different locales will develop different answers until some of the issues involved are more clearly defined and addressed on a national level. An analysis of issues that have been addressed by the various states shows several different ways in which claims have been made for a violation of privacy rights by computer. One of the issues that recurs and that in many way

Category: Government - P