Human Privacy in Virtual and Physical Worlds

This open-access book is premised on the belief that understanding and protecting privacy requires a multidisciplinary approach. The editors of this contributed book believe that privacy is a ‘wicked problem’ because of its social complexity. In the modern world, political, social, and technological structures increasingly violate human privacy in physical and virtual spaces. Our behaviors are surveilled, captured, and monetized—often without our knowledge. Contributors are experts from diverse fields, including anthropology, architecture, data science, engineering, history, information systems, library sciences, medicine, philosophy, and supply chain management, each writing for an explicitly interdisciplinary readership. Privacy as a concept is a moving target across the globe, morphing and transforming historically from one epoch to the next. By moving beyond the limitations of a single disciplinary lens, this book aims at a richer, more comprehensive, and more lasting analysis. This collection is of great interest to students and scholars of diverse backgrounds studying human privacy.