Definition: privacy

The degree to which an individual can determine which personal information is to be shared with whom and for what purpose. Although always a concern when users pass confidential information to vendors by phone, mail or online, the Internet brought this issue to the forefront. Websites often have privacy policies that stipulate exactly what will be done with the information being entered. Contrast with confidentiality, which deals with unauthorized access to data. See right to be forgotten, vault app, privacy policy, privacy browser, privacy search engine, Crypto War, CPO, EU Directive, GLBA, HIPAA and P3P.