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>>How much privacy should children get? >>Do children deserve privacy? > >I think it’s difficult to quantify how much privacy >children or, really, anyone should have. There are >competing interests to all rights, including privacy. >In the current era privacy, as it was once understood, >is rapidly disappearing as a result of technologies >that as a child would have seemed to me to be more >like magic than science. The internet and all its >privacy pitfalls, the virtual ubiquity of cameras, >both public and private, located on nearly every >intersection, every building and in nearly >everyone’s hands, has reshaped the whole concept >privacy and what a reasonable expectation of privacy >should be. > >That said, I believe that children should be afforded >reasonable privacy not inconsistent with their safety >and welfare. However, after asserting that children >should have reasonable privacy, I am still not able to >set out a standard that would apply in most or all >circumstances. I suppose that privacy expectations for >children must ultimately be decided on a case by case >basis, taking into account the child’s age, level of >intelligence, maturity and evolving community and >family standards. > >>Most of us had our shorts pulled down for a spanking >>when we were kids. Was that a violation of our >>privacy? > >When I was a boy, In the 1950s and 1960s, having your >pants pulled down for a spanking was certainly not >considered a violation of your privacy as a child, >particularly, if the child’s parents were the ones >pulling his pants down. Indeed, no court in the >country at that time would have entertained such an >argument. > >In the 1950s and 1960s, other authority figures such >as aunts and uncles, parents of friends, neighbors, >teachers and principals, babysitters, and, as I >discovered to my chagrin on two occasions, policemen >could, under certain circumstances, spank a child >without society taking exception to the act. It was >considered a social obligation for adults in authority >to correct misbehaving children and the child’s >privacy expectations, to the degree that they were >considered at all, were considered secondary to >remedial measures thought to encourage good >citizenship and discourage antisocial behavior. > >Modern standards have certainly evolved away from the >societal expectations of my childhood and that is >probably a good thing, but privacy for children and >adults is more at risk from larger actors than mere >the parents and other adults in authority of my youth. >The local cop who spanked my bare behind in public in >front of several witnesses really humiliated me, but >he didn’t represent the kind of violation of the >concept of privacy that spy satellites, internet >tracking systems and ubiquitous cameras everywhere >currently constitutes to both adults and children. > >>What about when we were lounging around the house in >>our underwear and parents snapped a picture? Was that >>a violation of our privacy? > >This example is also a question of social expectations >and societal mores and morals. As others have >observed, running around in your underwear was not >considered a question of privacy, at least, not for >children under a certain age. When I was young, around >three or four years old, my father took me to a >private athletic club to which he belonged to teach me >to swim. In this club, men’s activities and >women’s activities were segregated and, as a result, >both men and women swam in the nude. I ran around the >pool among the men, all of us nude and unconcerned >about nudity. I doubt this situation exists in modern >America today. > >Taking a photo of a child in his or her underwear was >considered cute back then. No one worried about the >child’s privacy because no one thought of such a >situation as potentially damaging to the child. Today, >it may be that such a photo is inappropriate in a >society that has learned more about child abuse and >exploitation. My mother had many photos of me in the >bathtub as a baby and when I was under five years old. >These “baby” photos were standard family photo >material and most parents took such photos. Today, >after infancy, these kinds of photos might well be >considered in questionable taste and, perhaps, >illegal. > >>Is privacy for children a good thing? > >Privacy for children is a good thing, but again, I >can’t define it. > >JB

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