Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
4-2025
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Alex Rajczi
Rights Information
©2025 Jacob A Detrinidad
Abstract
Government intrusion into our private lives is a standard part of modern democratic life, but how much intrusion should we accept? In the tension between government surveillance and security, many believe security to be a more important value and thus justify greater surveillance at the expense of informational privacy. However, at what point is this intrusion indefensible. This thesis explores the tensions between privacy and security through John Rawls’s theory of justice and Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy as contextual integrity and applies them to issues of public surveillance and the suppression of political protest. I argue that in the battle between security and privacy, matters of democracy are often overlooked. In Chapter 1, I examine Kenneth Himma’s arguments that, in most matters, security trumps privacy, and he legitimates this account by appealing to Rawls’s theory of justice. I challenge this claim by appealing to a critique from Adam Moore, who suggests that privacy plays a role in constraining the policy decisions of an unideal government. In Chapter 2, I turn to Nissenbaum’s theory of contextual integrity, a more adaptable and footed approach to modern debates around privacy and security. Her theory is context-sensitive and provides a method for evaluating privacy violations through analysis of entrenched social norms and values such as autonomy, democracy, and efficiency. In Chapter 3, I use contextual integrity to analyze hypothetical case studies based on real world policy issues. I argue that democratic values are often overlooked in discussions of privacy and policy, yet are central to evaluating whether certain government actions are ethically permissible. Throughout, I maintain that while security concerns are important, privacy must be protected for its essential role in safeguarding democratic engagement.
Recommended Citation
Detrinidad, Jacob, "When Surveillance Silences: Contextual Integrity and the Erosion of Protest Rights" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 3948.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3948
