“The right to privacy” was the title of a scholarly article in the Harvard Law Review of 1890 (written by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis), which proclaimed such a right in view of the rapid expansion of print media that sometimes published pictures of private individuals. More than a hundred years later, anyone of us in this room can take pictures with a mobile phone or digital camera and put them into the World Wide Web.

When we speak of the “Web 2.0”, we have in mind this kind of communications network which allows everyone to publish and share text, sound and images. Chat rooms, Blogs, Wikis, open collaborative networks and the like are on the rise and lead to marvellous international contacts and co-operation at individual level.

So far, media content has been produced by journalists and media staff with editorial responsibility and ethical codes of conduct. But what are the standards for the common users of the Internet, whether young or old, educated or not, wherever they live in this world, and World Wide Web? Do we want to limit this new and seemingly endless freedom in cyberspace?

The World Wide Web is often characterised as a wonderful space which is open to everyone and creates its own new rules. Such glorifications are probably naïve, because the technology may be extremely good, but we human beings using this technology are still the same

I cannot attempt to provide answers to all questions concerning privacy on the Web 2.0, but I draw attention to a few relevant issues which may serve as a basis for further discussions:
a. Privacy laws should apply in a technology neutral manner, because in principle it does not make a difference whether your private picture is published in a newspaper or on the Internet.
b. It may make a difference, however, whether your privacy was infringed for commercial purposes, e.g. by a newspaper or Website trying to increase sales, rather than by a private person with no financial interests, e.g. publishing it in a chat room.
c. A publication on the Internet may stay on the Web 2.0 for an indefinite time, while a printed publication will be out of circulation after a while and pictures broadcast on television will be available for a moment only. Images of child pornography victims have, for instance, been notoriously circulating on the Internet and the victims or their families could do little to stop this.
d. The Web 2.0 also allows everyone to open up his or her own privacy, for example by publishing personal data or even naked pictures. Can the right to privacy be waived, for instance by minors? Does human dignity prohibit a total waiver of privacy?

Download pdf Protecting Individual Privacy in the Web 2.0 Era