“We are at the beginning of a revolution that is fundamentally changing the way we live, work, and relate to one another…The changes are so profound that, from the perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril.”
- Karl Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution
We are at an inflection point in history – the 4th industrial revolution as Karl Schwab describes – is marked by unprecedented speed, scale, and interconnectedness. This interconnectedness and integration of technologies, including the ubiquity of the internet, pose significant risks to our privacy. Thus, while the internet and technology are often defined as enhancing our freedoms, let’s consider and address the challenges they pose in order to preserve the rule of law and our freedoms.
Aspired to safeguard privacy in the digital age and preserve the preconditions for rule of law and access to justice, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) launched a new Defending Digital Privacy program that will provide a space for lawyers and experts from across Southeast Asia to develop a common understanding of the core value of digital privacy and explore methods to protect and strengthen it in their jurisdictions.
Working with experts from across the world, including Asia, ABA ROLI will develop a regional training program and resources for lawyers and civil society actors on digital privacy (the collection and use of personal and networked data online by both state and non-state actors) in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Through a combination of virtual and in-person events, participants will be able to refine their understanding of privacy and its intersection with technology and understand existing mechanisms to protect privacy and provide redress for victims of privacy rights violations—either within their own jurisdictions, through regional or international mechanisms or private company’s review processes, such as the Oversight Board of Meta.
ABA ROLI will also partner with local bar associations and civil society organizations to support the development of domestically based but regionally connected networks of pro bono lawyers who can provide legal support for both high and low-profile cases in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam; share resources; and develop case law and experience for privacy rights cases across the region.
Privacy: A Prerequisite to Individual Autonomy and Free Democracy
Privacy is what allows us to both exercise our autonomy as a free human being and embark on the perpetual journey of exploring and developing who we are and what kinds of relationship we want to create with the world. This exploration and personal development require a healthy boundary between our individuality and the rest of the world. This “breathing room” shelters us from external outlets related to social control (e.g., dogma, cultural taboos, and government censorship and coercion) and allows for "freedom of thoughts" and all other forms of freedoms that accompany it.
In many liberal democracies–such as Canada, Australia and the US–privacy is viewed as central to our personal autonomy and sense of dignity. In 1890, the idea of a “right to privacy” first came about in the United States through a seminal opinion essay by Warren and Brandeis, “right to be let alone”. Warren and Brandeis conceived that, “[the] intensity and complexity of life...have rendered necessary some retreat from the world…so that solitude and privacy have become more essential to the individual”. Seventy-five years later, this right to privacy was first recognized by the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)—a case about the right of married couples to purchase contraceptives—where the court found that several provisions within the US Constitution protected a “zone of privacy”. Subsequent cases in the US lead to the influential Roe v. Wade (1973) decision—providing women the right to an abortion— and expanded this fundamental right to the individual, though primarily around bodily integrity. There are concerns about how the recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson (2022)—which overturned the decision in Roe v. Wade—may impact privacy in US law.