Track: Security, safety and privacy / Time: Tuesday 10:20 - 11:10 / Location: Marselisborg

Coming from law and philosophy I attempt to give some considerations on contemporary information technology and the notion of private life. IT seems to make it possible to track, record, and use minute details of our actions and whereabouts (virtually and physically), and users especially of social media appear inclined to share all sorts of intimate details of their life. What does this imply for the private life? In answering this, my point of departure is Jürgen Habermas’ analysis of the structural transformation of the public sphere: We need private life – as well as the public sphere – in order to develop our personality; and total transparency is unacceptable as it generates conformity and curbs inventiveness and creativity. However, the fact that private life is challenged is not new, and besides what is perceived to be private is undergoing changes. I therefore argue that rather than setting up legal firewalls, we have to engage in the complicated processes of balancing the interests.