(non)Principles on Influence and Manipulation

[wseltzer]

I took an action last meeting to draft this section, but I'm not sure there's a direct privacy principle in the mix. Rather, I think helping people protect against malign influence and manipulation is a rationale for privacy protections, and a consequence against which principles can be evaluated.

Privacy contributes to individuals' and groups' ability to protect themselves from influence and manipulation

• by enabling them to conceal vulnerabilities, unpopular opinions, or characteristics that would make them targets ** for harassment, marketing or price discrimination, political suasion, etc.
• by giving them opportunities to deliberate and formulate opinions before exposing them to public attention
• by letting them avoid unwanted information

These effects might be considered in evaluating the application of privacy principles, as "would the option under consideration facilitate unwanted influence or manipulation?"

Accordingly, I'm not proposing additional text for the document.

See also Tal Zarsky, Privacy and Manipulation in the Digital Age

[npdoty]

If we don't have any specific principles for this, where should that question go? It seems like a very useful one, even if it mostly applies to the consequences of other privacy-focused decisions.

"would the option under consideration facilitate unwanted influence or manipulation?"