On the Nexus between Privacy and Autonomy. A Contextual Integrity Approach

IntroductionPrivacy and autonomy are deeply intertwined.In privacy theory and law, there is broad agreement that privacy is a necessary precondition for autonomy.1 In order to make decisions according to our own preferences and live our lives according to our own goals, we need protected, ie, private, physical and metaphorical spaces. 2 This is all the more true in the digital age, as the collection and analysis of personal information exposes the vulnerabilities of individuals, which can be exploited to influence and manipulate them, thus posing a serious threat to individual autonomy.3 The German constitutional way of protecting informational privacy, namely the right to informational self-determination, makes this conceptual link explicit in its very name.4 If the value of privacy rests (if not exhaustively, then certainly decisively) in enabling autonomy, then a good understanding of privacy requires a robust theory of autonomy.5 However, it has been noted that legal understandings of privacy often * Some of the ideas presented here were discussed at the Workshop on Modern Technologies and Self Determination at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø in October 2023, during the Public Law Seminar at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg in April 2024, as well as at a two-day conference held at the same Institute in July 2024.I would like to thank all participants for their insightful and stimulating comments and suggestions.My sincere gratitude goes also to James Angove, Daniel Buchmann, Eran Fish and Christian Thönnes, who read an earlier draft of the chapter and provided invaluable feedback.Their incisive criticism and constructive suggestions were instrumental in refining the theses and enhancing the argument.Clearly, the responsibility for any errors remains with me.