Practical Privacy: A Kantian Approach
Bernie Garnell
June 30, 2023
Practical privacy, what is it? We've mentioned it a few times throughout our articles, and it is probably the most challenging part when navigating your online presence. When it comes to privacy, there is no "right" way to do it, and everyone will have their own unique risk appetite. Immanuel Kant's theories provide valuable insights into how we should implement practicality while maintaining a degree of privacy online.
Kant's Empirical Rationalism and Privacy
Kant's work on reason emphasized the importance of reason and rationality. He argued that rationalism and empiricism need to coexist for someone to derive knowledge. Let's apply that approach to privacy with an example.
Imagine you are a lifestyle vlogger that shares details about every aspect of your life to be relatable to your viewers. This includes elements from how you are trying to purchase your house, planning and going on holidays, activities with friends, etc. A rationalistic approach would be to share every single aspect you can, as your goal is to be as relatable and open to your viewers as possible. Heck, why not just live stream on Twitch 24/7 for all 356 days of the year? Well, I'm sure you can see why that won't be the best idea.
What if you get all of your followers camping outside of your house just for the chance to meet you because you've shared details about where you live? What if your friends avoid grabbing coffee with you because they know all your conversations will be recorded and broadcast to the world via your platform? While, yes, your goal is to be as public about your life as possible, there needs to be reasoning behind what you share, not only for the safety and well-being of yourself but for those around you as well.
Privacy Guidelines at Faraday
Here are a few examples for Instagram:
- Make your Instagram account private.
- Remove all unverified connections.
- Only connect with those you know and want to be connected to.
- Do not post any controversial material.
In Kantian ethics, individuals should not be treated merely as a means but as an end. Individuals should have the autonomy to make rational decisions to determine what levels of risk they are willing to take on. This may include having multiple social media accounts to stay in touch with loved ones, as that is what works for you. For someone else, they may only choose to have one account or none, as that is a risk they are unwilling to take on. In either case, both are completely valid representations of individuals' differences in risk appetite regarding their online digital presence.
Immanuel Kant's theory of pure reason can provide valuable insights into applying practical privacy in our online presence. Regarding our digital identity, there is no one size fits all approach to maintaining our privacy. We all have our different appetites and preferences to different degrees, and implementing some elements of the Kantian rules of thought can help us strike a balance when it comes to implementing practicality while retaining aspects of privacy.
References:
- [1] Campbell, A. (2016, August 30). Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Robert Paul Wolff Lecture 1. Youtube https://youtu.be/d__In2PQS60
- [2] McCormick, M. (n.d.). Kant, Immanuel: Metaphysics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/kantmeta/#SH8a
