Towards a Privacy Framework for Information Systems Development

Privacy issues are an increasing concern in our society (Pedersen, 1999). As information and communications technology (ICT) becomes increasingly pervasive, these concerns are being intensified. Privacy is a fundamental human right (UN, 1948) that continues to be violated by intrusive and unethical applications of technology in society and the workplace (cf. Baase, 2003). However, in spite of the ethical concerns and the pivotal role ICT plays in gathering and processing information on people, privacy remains a misunderstood and undervalued concept in ISD. Although literature addresses many ethical issues associated with intrusive technologies, privacy has received very little attention from ISD researchers, with mainstream literature treating privacy as analogous to data security. Palen and Dourish (2003) note that social and design studies of technology often unknowingly conflate the many functions of privacy and consequently fail to provide sufficient analytical treatment. Current ISD approaches are failing to recognise the significance of privacy ...