Privacy is a complicated business. It lies at the heart of the individual's capacity for self-realisation and forms the boundary between state and citizen. Privacy is, in fact, only a recent phenomenon.
Historically, our lives have been played out for all to see. Families slept together and there was little opportunity to escape for intimate moments alone. Similarly, public opinion, whether within a large household or a community, had the effect of keeping everyone in line — much as social media might do today.
Privacy though is likely to become — if it is not already — something for citizens who are rich and powerful. Something that we can purchase if we have sufficient wealth. Those without enough wealth will be left exposed through both state and corporate surveillance. Meanwhile, I wonder if there is an 'underclass' without the (theoretical) choice of privacy at all.
The case for yielding (some) privacy
I once knew of a boy whose birth was not registered. His parents believed this would free him from the strictures of the state. His life, they said, would be truly private and therefore free. This is an extreme example of an attempt to enforce a strict boundary between the individual and the state. But it would leave this boy without the trappings of citizenship that we take for granted.
In Proof of Birth, Melissa Castan and Paula Gerber have brought together a body of research on the effects of failing to have a birth certificate. The book focuses on Indigenous Australians, but its message is clear for all — birth registration is a human right and is a prerequisite for participatory citizenship.
We need to give up a bit of privacy in the interests of qualifying for a drivers licence, for a job (through a tax file number), for a bank account, to vote, and so on. To gain these benefits, it is a reality that once we are 'in the system' our details are available to the state and we lose a little privacy.
"Asylum seekers simultaneously need privacy from their home state as an incidence of their protection, and publicity in Australia as to their plight."
Without birth registration a person is not in a position to negotiate their privacy at all. They are beyond the reach of the benefits of citizenship, although not beyond bearing the cost of their exclusion. As I have written here before, Aboriginal people without birth certificates cannot get