Product Details
The Limits Of Privacy

The Limits Of Privacy
By Amitai Etzioni

List Price: CDN$ 29.95
Price: CDN$ 28.45 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $39. Details

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca

24 new or used available from CDN$ 0.03

Average customer review:
(1 )

Product Description

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 some cases, we would do well to sacrifice the privacy of the individual in the name of the common good.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #877427 in Books
  • Published on: 2000-03-16
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .63 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com
Privacy isn't all it's made out to be, says George Washington University scholar Amitai Etzioni. "Without privacy no society can long remain free," he writes, but our communities also have other goals that sometimes must override the privacy imperative. "Should the FBI be in a position to crack the encrypted messages employed by terrorists before they use them to orchestrate the next Oklahoma City bombing?" he asks. Etzioni's answer is a resounding "yes," and he applies similar logic to a number of areas. He believes, for example, that newborn babies should undergo HIV tests without parental consent because they could benefit from immediate treatment, even though mothers worried about personal revelations might object. He also supports the various sorts of "Megan's laws" that try to protect society against sex offenders.

Etzioni believes the government will use this sort of personal information responsibly; his faith is so complete in this regard that he even supports issuing national ID cards to all Americans. Big business doesn't fare nearly as well in his estimation: he worries that companies will abuse private medical records. Although there is much common sense on these pages, most readers will find areas of disagreement with Etzioni. He nevertheless offers an intelligent challenge to America's libertarian impulses. --John J. Miller

From Library Journal
Sociologist Etzioni's latest will stir debate on issues of privacy. As in previous books (e.g., The New Golden Rule, Basic Bks., 1997), Etzioni espouses the philosophy of communitarianism, which holds that individual rights must be balanced with concern for the common good. He favors HIV testing of infants, opposes encrypted messages, favors national ID cards, and proposes isolating sex offenders in villages akin to leper colonies. The book carefully dissects each issue, offering detailed statistics and addressing opposing viewpoints. At the conclusion of each chapter, Etzioni shows how a balanced analysis leads to a solution. He criticizes the ACLU for its sole emphasis on individual liberties and argues that the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, does not make privacy a privilege. While not everyone will agree with his conclusions, Etzioni has crafted a compelling argument for compromise between the views of libertarians and government. Recommended for all public libraries.AHarry Charles, Attorney at Law, St. Louis
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
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 its 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 rights all symptomatic of a disregard for the public good? Such issues remain unexplored. ($100,000 ad/promo, Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.