隐私的层级结构与伦理向度

The Hierarchical Structure and Ethical Dimension of Privacy

由于数字信息社会提供的历史性机遇,隐私概念已经跃升为当今伦理界不得不应对的一个研究对象。隐私作为当事人的主体性符号,构成了人之自由的本质性的前提条件,属于人性中最核心的价值,是人权中的重要构件,作为人类文化与社会文明的遗产,在国际人权宣言、人权公约以及法治国家的宪法中获得了法律固化的地位。然而,伦理学研究从总体上看并没有与此及时对接。隐私问题上的“伦理滞后”,不仅会影响到人们对隐私文明意识的健康塑造,而且也会造成司法实践中隐私概念内涵理解上的歧义性和过于粗泛的解释空间。应以现代性社会公共领域与私人领域的重大区分为出发点来把握隐私概念的内涵,依据客观与主观两个标准对隐私内容做出判断,除了从领域角度把隐私划分为“空间”“信息”和“决断”三类之外,还更应从程度角度解析隐私的浅层与深层、相对与绝对的内容之别,特别是绝对隐私的特征以及应当获得国家最高强度的保护的理据。一种新型的“保障对信息技术系统之可信性与完整性的基本权利”的落实,公民对国家的数据处理行为的信任,是国家在数字社会中真正实现对个人信息隐私保障的重要标志。

Due to the historic opportunity provided by the digital information society, the concept of privacy, which was slammed by feminists in the 1970s, has now become a research object that the ethical community has to deal with. Privacy, as the subjectivity symbol of the party concerned, constitutes the essential precondition of human freedom, belongs to the core value of human nature, and is an important component of human rights. As the heritage of human culture and social civilization, privacy has acquired the status of legal solidification in the international declaration of human rights, human rights conventions and the constitution of countries ruled by law. However, in general, ethical research has not been timely connected with this. The “ethical lag” on privacy issues will not only affect the healthy shaping of people’s awareness of privacy civilization, but also cause ambiguity in the understanding of the connotation of the concept of privacy in judicial practice and an overly broad interpretation space. This paper conducts a comprehensive and in-depth investigation of the ethical dimension of privacy, takes the major distinction between the public and private spheres of modern society as a starting point to grasp the connotation of the concept of privacy, and proposes objective and subjective criteria for judging the content of privacy, and points out that in addition to dividing privacy into three categories: “space”, “information” and “decision”from the perspective of the field. We should also analyze the differences between the shallow and deep,relative and absolute contents of privacy from the perspective of degree, and especially explore the characteristics of absolute privacy and the rationale for obtaining the highest level of protection in the country. Finally, we should advocate a new type of “ fundamental right to guarantee the credibility and integrity of information technology systems”, arguing that the implementation of this right and citizens’ trust in the state’s data processing behavior are important signs of the country’s real realization of personal information privacy protection in the digital society.