Privacy Issues in Cyber World

In the early days when printing press was the only medium available to the journalist he had enough time to study and edit the news which he would perhaps publish in a newspaper or article for the consumption of the general public. But with the advent of the Internet and the information age the onus lies on quick delivery of news which left the journalist with little or no scope for editing. Today most cyber editors agree that the standards should be the same whether publishing online or in print. As cyber news becomes a bigger component of how people in the developing countries like India get news, the practices of cyber news journalists become all the more important. Cyber journalism raised many challenging ethical concerns, including issues in the areas of privacy, advertising, business relationships, copyright, attributions, linking, posting supplementary materials, manipulation of data and graphic images. In this context, Jay Black wrote, “the bottom line (is that) new media technology and delivery systems make it necessary for individuals journalists to develop more sophisticated ethical decision making skills”. It is now well known that privacy is a human right since it has been recognised by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and many national and international treaties. Almost all the countries recognize privacy as a fundamental right of its citizens. Some countries have this right inherent in their constitution like South Africa and Hungary, while others with old constitutions have recognized it through other provisions. Most of the privacy laws in various countries are set on the guidelines prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Council of Europe. Threats to privacy of ordinary citizens in the wake of increased use and up-gradation of information technology have made the task more daunting for lawmakers worldwide.