Grants and Contributions:

Thinking About Privacy Rights in Relation to Individual and Collective Rights

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$49,508.00

Jun 9, 2021 - Mar 31, 2022

In the age of Big Data, recent technologies and AI allow for the inference of private attributes from a quantity of data that is innocuous when viewed in isolation, but which, when cross-referenced with other data, can reveal in a probabilistic manner things such as a person’s political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, lifestyle and health status. This information, inferred from information that is not necessarily personal, can be used to influence or manipulate behaviour or opinions and to engage in profiling or discrimination. More and more experts are stressing the importance of addressing this relatively new area of privacy and data protection. Some are even claiming a right to “reasonable inferences”. In their recent work, researchers have shown that the safeguards offered by current and proposed Canadian legislation (Bill C-11) do not adequately protect the privacy of individuals with respect to the risks posed by the use of inferred information. To adequately protect individuals from these risks, they argue there is a need to shift the focus from individual consent-based control of personal data to a regulatory framework for the use of inferences. These researchers have even suggested that certain inferences should be prohibited. The results of their work support the view that the right to privacy is a necessary condition for the exercise of other fundamental rights. However, this proposal faces a major challenge. On the one hand, certain experts argue that the protection of fundamental rights must not take place within the context of privacy protection, since these fundamental rights can be protected independently of privacy. On the other, some advocates of a distinctive view of privacy – who support the concept of “collective” privacy – argue that the protection of privacy rights must include protection of algorithmic groups, these groups of people who share a generic identity generated by algorithms. What should we make of this? The researchers will undertake a critical analysis of these two fundamental theses. In their view, this analysis is necessary if there is to be privacy protection based on rights and recognition of the right to privacy in its entirety.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Québec, Quebec, CA G1V 0A6

CP-000019

Contribution

Grants and Contributions

Academia

Université Laval

Faculty of Philosophy, Université Laval / Faculté de philosophie, Université Laval

Contributions Program