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The Nature and Value of Privacy & Anonymity

The first panel, moderated by Valerie Steeves, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa, began with Alan Westin, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University, who set the theme for the conference with his review of the concept of anonymity for biblical Hebrews, the Roman Empire and the American Republic. Helen Nissenbaum, Professor of Culture and Communications, Computer Science and Sr. Fellow in Law, New York University, posed a number of thought-provoking questions that conference attendees would ruminate over throughout the next couple days. These questions included: Do we have a right to anonymous speech? Do we have a right to read anonymously? Should we allow anonymous email? In thinking about ways that we might go about answering these questions, she explored several different layers of analysis. A number of questions were posed by audience members and an excellent discussion ensued.