The Right to Oblivion: Privacy and the Good Life

Privacy and the Good Life
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-0-674-26052-8
Verlag: Harvard University Press

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 238 mm, Gewicht: 536 g

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year "A radiantly original contribution to a conversation gravely in need of new thinking." –Ben Tarnoff, New Yorker A visionary reexamination of the value of privacy in today’s hypermediated world—not just as a political right but as the key to a life worth living. The parts of our lives that are not being surveilled and turned into data diminish each day. We are able to configure privacy settings on our devices and social media platforms, but we know our efforts pale in comparison to the scale of surveillance capitalism and algorithmic manipulation. In our hyperconnected era, many have begun to wonder whether it is still possible to live a private life, or whether it is no longer worth fighting for. The Right to Oblivion argues incisively and persuasively that we still can and should strive for privacy, though for different reasons than we might think. Recent years have seen heated debate in the realm of law and technology about why privacy matters, often focusing on how personal data breaches amount to violations of individual freedom. Yet as Lowry Pressly shows, the very terms of this debate have undermined our understanding of privacy’s real value. In a novel philosophical account, Pressly insists that privacy isn’t simply a right to be protected but a tool for making life meaningful. Privacy deepens our relationships with others as well as ourselves, reinforcing our capacities for agency, trust, play, self-discovery, and growth. Without privacy, the world would grow shallow, lonely, and inhospitable. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Hannah Arendt, Jorge Luis Borges, and a range of contemporary artists, Pressly shows why we all need a refuge from the world: not a place to hide, but a psychic space beyond the confines of a digital world in which the individual is treated as mere data.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pressly, Lowry

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Innen-, Bildungs- und Bevölkerungspolitik
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technologie: Soziale & Ethische Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Kultur-, Wissenschafts- & Technologiepolitik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie

Über Autor(innen)

Pressly, Lowry
Lowry Pressly is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. His writing has appeared in the <i>Los Angeles Review of Books, The Point, Political Theory,</i> and <i>Public Books</i>.