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Privacy & Culture in the Digital Age
Around much of the world, the issue of privacy in an age where everything we do online is tracked, analysed and repurposed in so many ways, it can help to understand how different cultures view privacy.
While the European Unions (EU) has some of the most robust and laws and toughest penalties regarding privacy and the use of data, some countries are struggling to catch up or have limited privacy laws. In the United States, aside from HIPPA, the health information privacy law, there isn’t a federal one. Canada has one on the table, Bill C-27, but it’s languishing in the House of Commons.
But what does privacy mean to us? Our world is filled with so many amazing cultures which include political and economic systems, arts and entertainment, social norms, traditions and behaviours. It also includes how societies approach, view and understand the meaning of privacy.
Eastern and Western cultures have different views on privacy, largely influenced by social norms such as Western cultures being more individualist and Eastern being more social. In India for example, community and family ties are first and foremost. Families tend to share more within the family unit. In Britain, my culture of origin, families rarely share personal information.
