Whose Privacy? What Harm?

Abstract

There are risks to individuals whose behaviors are recorded for use in social research; the risks are ordinarily less than those to subjects of biomedical research or even some behavioral experiments—and are phenomenally similar to those faced in all interaction. Unwarranted inferences about groups or categories of people based on examination of SIR constitute a potentially greater but less specifiable danger. The calculation of risks and benefits is not an easy one—privacy and injury are vague notions. Several examples are discussed and some issues particularly requiring specification are identified.