Privacy includes concerns about access to a person, control of personal information, and protected space for relationships and decisions. It is not reducible to concealing wrongdoing. Information can be nonsecret yet collected, combined, or used in ways that change someone’s practical freedom or social position.
Privacy can protect the conditions in which people develop relationships, seek advice, and revise their views without constant observation. Information practices also change power: a detailed profile can enable prediction or intervention that a person cannot see or contest. The fact that one detail was disclosed publicly does not automatically justify combining every detail indefinitely. A sound assessment considers purpose, access, retention, and the implications of moving information into a different relationship.