Ethics, Encryption, and Evolving Concepts of Personal Privacy in the ‘Black Box Library’

ABSTRACT “The American Library Association affirms that rights of privacy are necessary for intellectual freedom and are fundamental to the ethical practice of librarianship,” reads a position paper by the ALA. Protecting user privacy is a cherished ethical position held within this field. Therefore, it is worth asking whether libraries have been aggressive enough to protect this standard, given the rapid advancement of information technology, digital surveillance, cybercrime, commercial exploitation of user data, and emerging privacy threats for the individual and culture. This paper seeks to reconcile the ethical vision with the hard reality that emerging cyber threats can easily circumvent basic library efforts to protect user data. The author imagines the “black box” library, which would be the end result of radical adherence to the ethical standard. In short, the “black box” library would protect freedom of conscience for the user by adhering to extremely rigorous standards, including: Mass encryption, proxy services, legal enforcement of privacy provisions in vendor contracts, recordless inventory systems, and other strict measures. The vision is for a space where critical information flows in, but very little if any “digital exhaust” escapes it.