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Do you long for the serenity found in places like this? As populations grow, more and more people complain that their privacy is being invaded. And with the proliferation of computers, personal histories are an open book for many to read.

How do you view your privacy? As something to be guarded at all costs? What is a balanced view?

Is Your Privacy Endangered?

By Awake! correspondent in Japan

A WELL-KNOWN Japanese comedian and 11 followers stormed into a publishing firm. Wielding fire extinguishers and umbrellas, they injured five men. The reason for the raid? He claims his privacy had been violated by the company’s photo magazine.

Magazines that thrive on invading people’s privacy have proliferated in Japan. “Young cameramen do not hesitate to trample on other people’s privacy, and the editorial staff praise them as ‘courageous,’” says a free-lance photographer.

The proliferation of computers also increases the threat to privacy. U.S. government agencies reportedly have 18 to 20 files on the average American, and many persons have legitimate access to such files. Yet, others, called hackers, are known to intrude into these files.

Illustrating this is the report in The Times of London about a 22-year-old hacker who broke into the secret computer files of the Duke of Edinburgh and left messages. A hacker also succeeded in entering a word processor of the Israeli foreign minister and colored a speech manuscript with humorous lines.

Not only do celebrities feel the threat but ordinary citizens also do. According to a 1983 poll taken in the United States, 77 percent of those surveyed expressed concern over threats to their privacy. The Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende reports: “Fifty percent of all Danes feel unsafe or very unsafe about the way in which private and public files are used.” And in Japan, where the right to privacy has been less honored, many are worried and fear that invasion of privacy will increase.

True, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences says that the automation of personal information need not interfere with the continued enjoyment of individual rights. Nevertheless, many people fear a Big Brother society as depicted in George Orwell’s novel 1984.

But there is another aspect to the subject besides the one that involves computers and the right to control information concerning oneself. Masao Matsumura of the Management and Coordination Agency in Japan describes it as “the traditional aspect of privacy, the right to be let alone.”

Today, even this “traditional aspect” is endangered. You may have had the experience of wanting “to be let alone” and yet had others prey on your privacy. How do you view your privacy? Do you believe it should be guarded jealously at the expense of most other things? First, however, let us consider just what is meant by privacy.

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The problem of privacy becomes more complex with the advance of information technology

What Is Privacy?

“THE right of privacy is not easily understood,” explains The Guide to American Law, “because it cannot be described with precision.” David F. Linowes, professor of political economy and public policy, adds: “There is no agreed definition of privacy.”

Legally speaking, the right of privacy is a comparatively new thought, rooted in a law-review article written by Louis D. Brandeis and Samuel Warren in 1890. This landmark article was triggered by their indignation against unscrupulous newspaper sensationalism known as “yellow press.”

Privacy was thus defined as “the right to be let alone.” However, Professor Masanari Sakamoto of the University of Hiroshima wrote that this definition “was unfortunate for the later development of the right.” He views privacy as a positive concept that includes both the separation from others and the involvement with them.

Professor Sakamoto’s views are in keeping with the definition of privacy in The Encyclopedia Americana. There privacy is defined as “the claim made by individuals, groups, or institutions that they be allowed to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others.”

Thus, what one may consider to be a matter of privacy, another may not. Let us compare various views.

Attitudes Toward Privacy

“The protection of private life does not even have a precise word in Portuguese to define it. The dictionaries do not list the word ‘privacy’ (privacidade),” reported O Estado de S. Paulo, a newspaper in Brazil. That was in 1979. Only recently, in 1986, has a dictionary in Brazil listed the word privacidade, which is borrowed from the English. In the Korean language, there is no single word that is an equivalent of the English word “privacy.”

The situation is similar in Japan. “There is, in fact, no Japanese word for ‘privacy,’” explains Donald Keene, an American Japanologist. “In group-oriented Japan,” observes Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, “the right of the individual to privacy has traditionally been less honored than the family, group, or community right to know about and intervene in an individual’s affairs.” For example, if you want a job in a Japanese company, you should be prepared to face questions such as: Are you getting along with your wife? Where does she work? What is her income? How old are your children? What school do they attend? If you are single, once you get the job, your boss may say: “It is about time you got married and settled down.”

Would you consider this an inexcusable invasion of privacy? The Japanese employee may not think so. Asked when they feel peace of mind, only 8 percent of the Japanese answered “when alone.” Almost two thirds of those polled said that they felt peace of mind when they were with family or friends.

A Japanese bride, however, was shocked to see what happened at her wedding in the Philippines. She asked her Filipino husband who all the guests were at their wedding reception. “I don’t know them,” he answered. “We prepare a lot of food, and anybody can come in and share our joy.” Among Filipinos, that is showing hospitality. What a difference from many European societies where you are expected to have a formal invitation before you make a visit or join a party!

Before dismissing different views on privacy as unacceptable, try to see the positive side of other people’s views. A European may complain that there is no privacy in other societies. However, in these other societies people have been taught to share almost everything with their family and friends. A person is expected to sacrifice his privacy rather than protect it.

Problems to Overcome

True, there are what some consider problems where people customarily have little privacy. If people living in such a society want to study or engage in other personal activity, they have to cultivate to a high degree the ability to concentrate. Donald Keene observed in his book Living Japan: “The only real privacy comes from shutting oneself off spiritually from other people who may in fact be a few feet away, and this kind of privacy is necessary in Japan.”

Living in close proximity to relatives and friends can create other problems. Some Japanese married couples, for example, feel a need to flee to “love hotels” for their intimate times together. Similarly, in Brazil privacy is limited in a home where only a thin curtain hangs instead of a door or where rooms are merely partitioned-off cubicles. Conversation and other sounds pass freely to other rooms.

But not only can such housing situations create what some consider to be problems; so can the friendly nature of people. This can irritate privacy-oriented people. For instance, if you do not have children, you may be bombarded with personal questions such as, ‘You don’t have any children? Why not?’

A Greater Price to Pay?

Yet, being overly curious about a neighbor’s affairs is viewed with a certain contempt in Denmark. Similarly, in Britain, many middle-aged people treasure privacy even from their own children. In a class-conscious society, each social group tries to live within the protection of privacy.

However, in countries where a high degree of privacy is expected, it comes with a price tag. For example, when an 80-year-old man locked himself out of his house in Denmark, he could not bring himself to ring his neighbor’s doorbell. He wandered for an hour and a half in cold weather until a policeman helped him get to a locksmith.

Problems like this prompted the Danes to start a door-to-door campaign in the 1970’s. The campaign’s aim? To encourage lonely people to call on their neighbors to a greater degree and to communicate with them. In the course of a few months, some 50,000 Danes participated in this campaign. Such a phenomenon on the part of a privacy-oriented society shows the need to be concerned about others.

Yet, in Germany 62 percent of those polled by the Allensbacher Institute viewed their own private happiness as their main purpose in life. But as this institute concluded: “If we deem giving to others as foolish and only see our own private happiness and that of our family, we may already have reached the social ice age.” Indeed, a lack of concern for others goes hand in hand with selfishness.

In Japan a trend toward selfishness with the emphasis on privacy is observed. “Among the many changes in Japanese society wrought by the nation’s rapid economic growth,” writes Tetsuya Chikushi, a leading Japanese journalist, “is the phenomenon of children growing up with their own rooms, a phenomenon considered by many to represent the greatest historical change in Japanese society.”

The change has both a positive and a negative side. The privacy can help the child develop a sense of responsibility and provide him a haven for study and meditation. Yet, it can cause children to become recluses in their own room, forsaking communication with the family. Pointing to such negative aspects, Hiroshi Nakamura of the Children’s Culture Institute in Japan said: “The earlier the independence the better, the more affluent the better, the more perfect the privacy the better​—it is these very thoughts that are the cause of the psychological gap in the family.”

The growing selfish attitude in its society is alarming many Japanese. The dilemma helps us to see the need for balance.

A Balanced View of Privacy

THE reasons why people want privacy are manifold and diverse. Youths may desire privacy to assert their independence. Some want their finances kept private because of shady dealings. Persons tested for the AIDS virus are often concerned that the results be kept private. And many want quiet, private surroundings in which to meditate.

When Privacy Is Needed

Persons facing difficult situations treasure moments to be alone. Such periods of privacy, according to Yoko, a young woman in Tokyo, Japan, are vital to help her to cope. One day, for example, when the butcher delivered her order, her mother-in-law received it and threw a whole chicken into the garbage can, just to put Yoko in a bad light. Facing such incidents day in and day out, Yoko says, makes invaluable the time she spends by herself in privacy.

Thinking matters out when alone can help a person decide on a proper course. “Be agitated, but do not sin,” the Bible wisely counsels. “Have your say in your heart, upon your bed, and keep silent.” (Psalm 4:4) “Really,” the Bible psalmist further says, “during the nights my kidneys have corrected me.” (Psalm 16:7) His “kidneys,” or his deepest emotions, corrected him as he pondered over events.

Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, highly esteemed privacy. Upon receiving the news that his cousin John the Baptizer had been beheaded, he “withdrew from there by boat into a lonely place for isolation.” (Matthew 14:13) Also, the night before his death, he took time to be alone to pray. (Matthew 26:36-47) Earlier, he instructed his disciples on this matter: “When you pray, go into your private room and, after shutting your door, pray to your Father who is in secret.”​—Matthew 6:6.

Balance Needed

Yet, as much as we need privacy, placing too much emphasis on it can lead to problems. “Either too much privacy or too little,” states The Encyclopedia Americana, “can create imbalances that seriously jeopardize individual well-being.” How can this be?

In Canada, a two-foot [0.6 m] fence around a property was replaced by a six-foot-high [1.8 m] enclosure to provide more privacy. The result? The interchange of warm neighborly concern was cut off. In another more extreme instance, a family moved to a wilderness to get away from all other humans. The couple had their children taught through correspondence courses. But, sadly, the couple broke up, and their children suffered, since they were ill-equipped to make a living.

Choosing to isolate oneself from others is unwise. People need people. All of us need the strength and help that we can draw from others. “One isolating himself will seek his own selfish longing,” the Bible proverb says. “Against all practical wisdom he will break forth.”​—Proverbs 18:1.

Jesus demonstrated exemplary balance in this regard. After a particularly strenuous period, Jesus recognized his disciples’ need for some privacy, so he said: “Come, you yourselves, privately into a lonely place and rest up a bit.” The crowd, however, got ahead and were waiting for them when they arrived. How did Jesus react? “He was moved with pity for them, because they were as sheep without a shepherd. And he started to teach them many things.” Yes, Jesus gave priority to helping people.​—Mark 6:31-34.

Need to Respect Others’ Privacy

Concern for people, however, should be kept within limits. Gentle ripples on a shore are soothing, but raging tidal waves can be devastating. To show concern for others is fine, but to poke one’s nose into other people’s business can sever a peaceful relationship. The Bible wisely advises: “Make your foot rare at the house of your fellowman, that he may not have his sufficiency of you and certainly hate you.”​—Proverbs 25:17.

A friendly visit once in a while can be like soothing ripples, but to overdo it can cause others to build up a psychological breakwater to keep out the pounding waves of incessant visitations. In the barren waste of gadding about on meaningless visits, seeds of gossip and rumor grow. If you expect others to respect your privacy, you must also honor the privacy of others by refraining from what may be considered embarrassing personal questions and gossip.

“Let none of you suffer . . . as a busybody in other people’s matters,” warns the Bible. (1 Peter 4:15) Referring to some busybodies in the first century, an educated Christian wrote: “They also learn to be unoccupied, gadding about to the houses; yes, not only unoccupied, but also gossipers and meddlers in other people’s affairs, talking of things they ought not.”​—1 Timothy 5:13.

What Prospect for Privacy?

“A privacy, an obscure nook for me. I want to be forgotten even by God,” wrote English poet Robert Browning. Absolute privacy, however, is only a mirage. In the Orient, there is an old saying: “Heaven knows, earth knows, I know, and you know.” The Christian apostle Paul wrote: “All things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have an accounting.”​—Hebrews 4:13.

Rather than wanting to be forgotten by God, how happy we can be that our loving Creator takes an interest in us! Since he is our Source of life, to be forgotten by him would lead to loss of life itself. (Psalm 36:9; 73:27, 28) Yet, Jehovah’s interest in us is not obtrusive; he does not watch our every move with the intent of finding fault. “He has not done to us even according to our sins,” his Word says, “nor according to our errors has he brought upon us what we deserve. As a father shows mercy to his sons, Jehovah has shown mercy to those fearing him.”​—Psalm 103:10, 13.

How pleasant it is when family and friends, while granting us a measure of privacy, also demonstrate loving concern for us! Surely, to enjoy privacy in a balanced way is desirable.

Under the Kingdom that God promises, with Jesus Christ as King, all people will care about one another. (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 21:4) At the same time, however, people will recognize the need of others to be alone on occasion to study, to meditate, and to pray. What the prophet Micah foretold will then be realized to its fullest extent: “They will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it.”​—Micah 4:4.

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‘Let none of you suffer as a busybody in other people’s matters’

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The time for enjoying privacy in a balanced way is near at hand