Etzioni (George Washington Univ.) continues his elucidation and
defense of "communitarianism" begun in such previous works as The
New Golden Rule: Community and Morality in a Democratic Society
(1997). Communitarianism holds that a good society must maintain a
balance between individual rights and the common good. Since the
1960s or so, concern for the common good has given way in the US to
"excessive deference to privacy." Etzioni believes it's time to
correct the balance. Certainly aware of the importance of privacy,
Etzioni lays out specific criteria to be met and stringent
processes to be followed when rights are to be curtailed. There
must be a real, not hypothetical, danger to the common good. The
danger must first be dealt with, without restricting privacy rights
if possible. When rights are curtailed the action should be
minimally intrusive, and undesired side effects must be guarded
against, e.g., if widespread HIV testing is found necessary,
efforts must be made to enhance the confidentiality of medical
records. Taking this framework, Etzioni examines five areas of
public policy, among them mandatory HIV testing of infants, the
public listing of sex offenders ("Megan's Laws"), and
medical-records privacy. Predictably, in all but the last, where he
argues that there should be more protection, he finds a minimal
diminution in individual rights justifiable. Sex offenders, for
instance, do have their rights curtailed when their presence in a
community is made public, but the benefit to the community is worth
it. These substantive chapters are intriguing, yet overall there is
not much new here. Etzioni has plowed this field often, and the
basic premises of his argument are not improved upon. Curiously, he
continues to paint privacy with broad strokes, with too little
regard for the nuances of that term. Is it hedonism he decries, or
selfishness? Are demands for fights all symptomatic of a disregard
for the public good? Such issues remain unexplored. (Kirkus
Reviews)
Privacy is perhaps the most hallowed of American rights--and most
people are concerned that new technologies available to governments
and corporations threaten to erode this most privileged of rights.
But in The Limits of Privacy, Amitai Etzioni offers a decidedly
different point of view, in which the right to privacy is balanced
against concern for public safety and health. Etzioni looks at five
flashpoint issues: Megan's Laws, HIV testing of infants,
deciphering of encrypted messages, national identification cards,
and medical records, and concludes that there are times when
Amricans' insistence on privacy is not in the best interests of
society at large. He offers four clear and concise criteria which,
when applied jointly, help us to determine when the right to
privacy should be overridden for the greater public good.Almost
every week headlines warn us that our cell phones are being
monitored, our e-mails read, and our medical records traded on the
open market. Public opinion polls show that Americans are dismayed
about incursions against personal privacy. Congress and state
legislatures are considering laws designed to address their
concerns.Focusing on five flashpoint issues--Megan's Law, mandatory
HIV testing of infants, encryption of electronic documents,
national identification cards and biometric identifiers, and
medical records--The Limits of Privacy argues counterintuitively
that sometimes major public health and safety concerns should
outweigh the individual's right to privacy. Presenting four concise
criteria to determine when the right to privacy should be preserved
and when it should be overridden in the interests of the wider
community, Etzioni argues that, in somecases, we would do well to
sacrifice the privacy of the individual in the name of the common
good.
General
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