Philosophy Live: The Future of Privacy

About the lecture

Prominent ethical and legal frameworks claim that governments and businesses can permissibly process personal information, under specific conditions, as soon as data subjects give their consent. This already justifies constraints on personal data processing practices to secure free, informed, and unambiguous consent, as well as to respect the context in which consent was given. But consent is not the whole story.

Processing personal data without consent may be permissible in some cases when other “legitimate interests” are at stake, such as national security or fraud prevention: so, how to balance privacy and other legitimate interests? On the other hand, emerging accounts of privacy propose that obtaining individual consent is sometimes insufficient to justify personal data processing. If giving away one’s personal data reveals information about others, or if coordination failure leads to suboptimal privacy for all, collective privacy decisions may be required. To elucidate these challenges, our panelists will discuss puzzling examples such as user privacy on social media platforms, wearable devices for employees in workplaces, and data processing in health or migration governance.

Join us!

This event takes place on Monday, 6 March 2023, 6.30pm-8.00pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE Campus.

The event is free and open to all! There will be a live stream available. Register here to receive the Zoom link.

Speaker

Orla Lynskey is an Associate Professor at the LSE Law School (UK) and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe. She teaches and conducts research on data protection, technology regulation, digital rights and EU law. Her book, The Foundations of EU Data Protection Law offers academics, policy-makers, and practitioners a coherent vision for the future of our right to data protection.

Elin Palm is Senior Associate Professor in the Department of Culture and Society at Linköping University (SE). She does research on the ethics of surveillance in workplaces and migration governance. Her publications include Privacy Expectations at Work—What is Reasonable and Why?

Alex Voorhoeve is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His interests include the philosophy of public policy, the allocation of resources for health care, and the ethics of privacy. He recently published on What makes personal data processing by social networking services permissible? (Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2022, with L. Wolmarans).

Chair

Thomas Ferretti is a Fellow in Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He works on topics that intersect with political philosophy, business ethics, and challenges raised by emerging technologies in workplaces. His publications include An Institutionalist Approach to AI Ethics: Justifying the Priority of Government Regulation over Self-Regulation.