Approaching the value of Privacy: Review of theoretical privacy concepts and aspects of privacy management

Privacy has become a common discussed issue involving technological, social, ethical, economic and political complexity. This paper reviews the current state of privacy concepts and theories reflecting scholarly work of diverse disciplines. It argues that in an environment of new technologies and surveillance opportunities with an increased potential of ubiquitous data collection and data combination, traditional privacy theories fall short in mainly concentrating on one single aspect of privacy. Hence, beside a presentation of general theoretical privacy aspects, this paper highlights existing ‘multidimensional’ privacy approaches considering responses to specific (technological) situations in different contexts. Finally, drawing on a more pragmatic and practical level, diverse short snapshots of concrete privacy management approaches, focusing on an individual, project oriented, organizational as well as legal and governmental level, are presented.