We rarely fight for privacy simply for its own sake; we fight for its underlying
values. Autonomy is central to most understandings of privacy (Hildebrandt 2006).
Warren and Brandeis’ (1890, p. 195) classic call for the “right to be let alone,” the
catalyst of privacy law in the United States, is built on the notion of autonomy, or
our ability to pursue our own path without impediment or external influence.
Privacy is often conceptually reduced to control over our information, and thus
placed into a narrative that associates technological progress with the loss of control
over personal information (Austin 2010). Therefore, the ability to share more
information is perceived as evolutionary and contradictory to the practice of
controlling personal information. And yet, what is problematic is not the practice
of sharing, nor is control over what is shared synonymous with a lack of sharing.