Stanzione, in 25 years privacy has become everyone's right

In a quarter of a century, bourgeois right privacy has become a conquest of all, in support of freedom and democracy.

This is the balance that the President of the Privacy Authority, Pasquale Stanzione, traces in an interview with ANSA released on the eve of the presentation of the photographic book "25 years of Privacy in Italy. From the courtesy distance to the algorithm ".

The volume, produced in collaboration with the agency, traces the mandates that have followed one another from 1997 to today and will be presented at 3.30 pm in Rome, at the Chamber of Commerce - Temple of Hadrian.

What are the main achievements of this quarter of a century?

"Undoubtedly the democratization of privacy; its affirmation as a right more and more of all and all and, above all, of the last. Originally born and perceived as a traditional bourgeois prerogative, the right to privacy has gradually asserted itself (in Italy also thanks to the Workers' Statute already in the 1970s) as a powerful tool for redistribution of information power and, therefore, as a guarantee of the weaker groups from the point of view of substantial equality sanctioned by the Constitution. This is what Rodotà defined the passage from secrecy (bourgeois ) to control (of information power) ".

War, together with human lives, sweeps away the rights of individuals.

How to protect vulnerable people?

"Like any emergency,

war amplifies the dimension of necessity and leads to underestimate the importance of rights.

It is almost always the most vulnerable people who pay the price due to their social, economic and personal condition.

And this is unacceptable.

This is why, for example, precisely with respect to the war, we reiterated the need to avoid, even in the precious exercise of freedom of information, the pornography of pain, expressed by the dramatic force of children and tortured bodies ". tried to reconcile the needs for the protection of privacy and public health.

The Privacy Guarantor turns 25.

'Protection of personal data universal law'

Are you satisfied with the work done?

What are the critical issues to overcome?

"The pandemic has taught us to always seek, behind alleged antagonisms, a virtuous synergy between the self and the us, freedom and solidarity. Privacy has been an important interpreter of this need for balance, demonstrating the relevance of its "social function" in guaranteeing a democratically sustainable balance with collective needs and in making the technique instrumental to man and to freedom, never vice versa. Think of Immuni, but also of the green pass: cases in which technology has provided solutions to minimize the impact of health containment measures on freedoms ".

In the Italian media, striking news cases emerge periodically, often told in great detail.

"The relationship between privacy and information is governed by the criterion of essentiality, which legitimizes the dissemination of data, including personal data, as long as they are functional for information purposes with respect to news of public interest. This allows the fundamental information function to be fulfilled without, however, making journalism expire. looking through the keyhole, which adds nothing in terms of information, but violates the dignity of the person ".

New technologies and artificial intelligence are a great unknown for the future.

Should we put a limit on development?

Is there a risk of a conflict between man and machine?

"There is a need for an anthropocentric guide to innovation, which prevents man from being the instrument of the machine, rather than vice versa.

the direction given by the European regulation on digital, which since the GDPR aims to combine innovation and digital humanism. "Without regulation and coordination at European and international level, it is increasingly difficult to guarantee the rights of individuals. Progress has been made, but are they enough? "The Europe of small steps - to take up Schuman's idea - has gone very far and, above all, has marked the right direction to take for the guarantee of freedom, equality, solidarity: to place the person - as the Charter of Nice states - in the center.

The challenge that awaits her is to promote the universalism of human rights ".

Without regulation and coordination at European and international level, it is increasingly difficult to guarantee the rights of individuals.

Progress has been made, but is it enough?

"The Europe of small steps - to take up Schuman's idea - has gone very far and, above all, has marked the right direction to take for the guarantee of freedom, equality, solidarity: to place the person - as stated the Nice Charter - in the center. The challenge that awaits you is to promote the universalism of human rights ".

Without regulation and coordination at European and international level, it is increasingly difficult to guarantee the rights of individuals.

Progress has been made, but is it enough?

"The Europe of small steps - to take up Schuman's idea - has gone very far and, above all, has marked the right direction to take for the guarantee of freedom, equality, solidarity: to place the person - as stated the Nice Charter - in the center. The challenge that awaits you is to promote the universalism of human rights ".

it marked the right direction to be taken to guarantee freedom, equality, solidarity: placing the person - as the Nice Charter states - at the center.

The challenge that awaits her is to promote the universalism of human rights ".

it marked the right direction to be taken to guarantee freedom, equality, solidarity: placing the person - as the Nice Charter states - at the center.

The challenge that awaits her is to promote the universalism of human rights ".