Privacy as a Positive or Negative Right

The right to privacy can be perceived as a positive right when we think about it as the right to control our information. We can consider rights (or privileges, since it is nontrivial to determine what should be considered a right) such as the ability to decide which companies have our contact information, the ability to choose which personal information to publicize, and the ability to hold private conversations over the internet as falling under the realm of digital privacy.

However, a more common -- and more accurate, in my opinion -- way to define privacy is as a negative right. Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary calls it "freedom from unauthorized intrusion." It is "freedom from" rather than "freedom to" that implies a negative right. In contrast with the examples above, we can think of privacy as the ability to give our contact information to one company without allowing that company to sell it to others, the ability to put information on the internet without it becoming publicly available, or the ability to have a conversation online without a third party accessing it.

In short, we want to be able to do anything we want on the internet without the fear that someone is watching. We want to have the same sense of security online as we do in our own houses, where no one can lawfully (or without proper authority) intrude without our knowledge and permission.