TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond individual-centric privacy
T2 - Information technology in social systems
AU - Pieters, Wolter
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - In the public debate, social implications of information technology are mainly seen through the privacy lens. Impact assessments of information technology are also often limited to privacy impact assessments, which are focused on individual rights and well-being, as opposed to the social environment. In this article, I argue that this perspective is too narrow, in terms of understanding the complexity of the relation between information technology and society, as well as in terms of directions for managing this relation. I use systems theory to show that current approaches focus mostly on individual impact of information technology developments rather than their mediating role in society itself. I argue that this should be complemented by an analysis of impact on individuals (psychic systems) via co-construction of the environment (social system). I then take up the question of what the role of information technology in social systems would look like in terms of the social relations of trust and power, and how this can complement privacy in discussions on impacts of information technology.
AB - In the public debate, social implications of information technology are mainly seen through the privacy lens. Impact assessments of information technology are also often limited to privacy impact assessments, which are focused on individual rights and well-being, as opposed to the social environment. In this article, I argue that this perspective is too narrow, in terms of understanding the complexity of the relation between information technology and society, as well as in terms of directions for managing this relation. I use systems theory to show that current approaches focus mostly on individual impact of information technology developments rather than their mediating role in society itself. I argue that this should be complemented by an analysis of impact on individuals (psychic systems) via co-construction of the environment (social system). I then take up the question of what the role of information technology in social systems would look like in terms of the social relations of trust and power, and how this can complement privacy in discussions on impacts of information technology.
KW - Impact assessment
KW - information technology
KW - privacy
KW - social sustainability
KW - social systems
KW - systems theory
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:487a074f-b27f-49ce-8ed8-269067eb561e
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030646960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01972243.2017.1354108
DO - 10.1080/01972243.2017.1354108
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85030646960
VL - 33
SP - 271
EP - 281
JO - Information Society
JF - Information Society
SN - 0197-2243
IS - 5
ER -