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Privacy is one of the most important and debated issues of our times. Like most concepts, it is difficult to give a full definition of privacy in one or two sentences. Therefore, there is no universal definition for it. The term privacy suggests a need to protect and restrict the access by others to one’s personal information70. Privacy concerns all of us as individuals and groups. It concerns information about us that we create knowingly or unconsciously. Privacy is equally relevant to information collected or distributed by private, public and community-based institutions.

Joseph Cannataci, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, and his peers propose that there are three broad groupings of privacy concerns. The frst group is about physical spaces which concerns individuals and groups protecting their spaces from unwelcome access, interference and intrusion. The second grouping of privacy concerns is about the individuals as a person - what agency or autonomy individuals have to think freely, make their own choices and express themselves freely without fear of external interference. Finally, the third group is also concerned with the individual as a person but zeros in on the flow of personal information. This is called information privacy. This type of privacy extends beyond the individual to the society as a whole, insofar as it is also concerned with how privacy affects the flow of information in society and how this impacts the development of individuals as citizens.

Information privacy or informational privacy is related to data privacy. In the digital age, one’s physical space, personal autonomy and how a person creates and uses data is all wrapped up in new technologies and transformed into virtual spaces and virtual data. For example, before technology, one could access information in the library as frequently as they wished and only the library officials with authority would have access to the history or type of information that she or he was accessing. When you would go to the shop, only the shopkeeper would know what you were purchasing. In the online environment of today, this has completely changed. Each time one purchases something at a point of sale at a store or online, carry out a transaction on a government website, visits the doctor or hospital, search for something online using a search engine or engage in any form of activities on social media, data is being created, collected and stored. Who has access to this data, what it is used for and what permission one gives for its use or not is of concern to all peoples. 

Privacy is a human right and is protected under Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Countries and regional geographical blocks have data protection laws which strengthen privacy protection. Over 132 countries around the world have developed and adopted laws for data protection based on international standards. 

If you are asking yourself what privacy has to do with media and information literacy, it means that you are thinking critically because this would be a valid question. In Module 1 and other relevant modules, broad media and information literacy competencies are outlined and explained. These competencies encompass the knowledge, skills and attitudes a person needs to critically and purposeful interact with information, media and digital technology of all forms. The competencies needed to protect one’s privacy are inherently competencies about engagement with content, ICT and institutions providing content. “Defending one’s privacy and respecting other’s  privacy  is  one  instance  of  MIL  competencies  in  action.”  Two illustrations are provided for the reader. First, the MIL competency that is concerned with locating and accessing information and ethical and accountable use of information will help persons to understand about who can locate and access their private information, how they do it, for what purpose they use it and what the individual can do to protect their private data. A second example relates to the MIL competencies that is about how understanding the role and function of content providers online or oline helps persons to understand the social, economic, and political context of privacy. Understanding ICTs and institutions underpins knowledge about how sensors and algorithms track and surveil our behaviours, producing data that, without safeguards, is often used to target us in ways that can undermine our agency and autonomy in our future decision-making.

Privacy is relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). People's engagement in development and democracy in connection with the SDGs is mediated by content providers and shaped by their level of MIL competencies. In this respect, interference with privacy can change the flow of information in society. Consider for instance SDG 5, gender equality and women’s empowerment, where rising misogyny online as well as online attacks against women journalists and bloggers use private information to intimidate their expression, etc. Understanding privacy within media and information literacy connects an individual’s personal information with information about development and public information in relation to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the SDGs.

This module consists of four units which provide explanations, pedagogical examples and resources in connection with the basics of privacy in MIL, data creation and use, the relationship between privacy and development, and ethics and institutional obligations for protecting people’s privacy and data.