The right to privacy provides citizens with fundamental guarantees, but which may seem trivial in our daily lives. Our tendency is to value this right only when we lose it. This was the focus of the lecture by Yasodara Córdova, keynote speaker at the RNP 2022 Forum, this Tuesday (30). “Some things are very common, but when we lose, we miss them a lot”, said the researcher. 

Yasodara highlighted that privacy is central to seven aspects of the human experience: relationships of trust; the ability to set boundaries in these relationships; respect for individuality; limiting the power of people, institutions and companies; creative freedom of expression and action; political freedom; and the possibility of changing one’s mind. 

The researcher, who has worked in the public and private sectors and in academia, gave practical examples to illustrate her argument. According to her, when lawyers, doctors and psychologists disclose conversations with their patients and clients, even if anonymously, they are violating the right to privacy. 

“Why do we have the right to keep these conversations? Because when that doesn't exist, there's no way to establish a relationship of trust. This is also the case with companies or governments”, said the Principal Privacy Researcher at Unico, IDTech that develops solutions for protecting the identity of people in relations with private companies.

The right to secrecy of personal data, within the limits of the law

Yasodora argued that citizens should have the right to place limits on sharing information for certain groups, institutions or social networks. And that they even have the right to keep data secret, as long as the limits of the law are respected. “This is how we function in offline life. In online life, we also seek to establish limits by privacy controls and who we share our information with”, she pondered. 

The privacy activist, who has been working in the area for more than 15 years, also warned: the greater the amount of data that a company or institution has on a given person, the more power it accumulates over that individual, making relationships unequal and the situation propitious to abuse, such as blackmail and personal revenge.

Yasodora believes that the debate on privacy has intensified in Brazil. She considers the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), which came into force in August 2021, as a step forward in raising awareness on the subject. On the other hand, she said that investment in technologies that promote security in the digital world, connected with the reality and desires of citizens, is essential. 

“The law is very modern and will greatly improve the scenario in terms of privacy. But we need to go a step further and start using technology to store our data. We need to teach technology to keep our secrets”, concluded the researcher.

Watch here the full lecture by Yasodara Córdova.

Transparency and Democracy Mechanisms

Deepening a theme that had already been raised by Yasodara Córdova in her lecture, the panel “Is your organization prepared to be transparent?” discussed the importance of transparency mechanisms and access to information for strengthening democracy. Mediated by Vanessa Macedo, Information Manager at RNP, Luiz Vicente Cruz e Silva, coordinator for the Promotion of Transparency at Petrobras, and Leandro Alberto Torres Ravache, ombudsman for the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) took part. Watch the panel on the RNP YouTube channel here.

The concern with the subject is old. In 1766, in Sweden, the first access to information law was created. Three centuries later, in 2011, Brazil approved the General Law of Access to Information (LAI), which regulates citizens' right of access to public information both actively by institutions and through specific requests. 

The two professionals brought a bit of experience from the institutions where they work. Ravache explained that the BNDES seeks to implement an active disclosure of information on the bank's operations. "The dissemination of information contributes to increasing the probability of meeting the basic needs of the population, in addition to making government abuse less likely," he said. 

Cruz e Silva said that Petrobras created several mechanisms to strengthen and disseminate information, a challenge in a company that deals with strategic and competitive sectors. “We place transparency as a principle and a value of the company”, said the transparency specialist.