# privacy (social)

a state where own information remains confined within a boundary, limiting others' access to it

- Computed level: L15 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday sense  ·  Arena: privacy

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [information](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-information.knowledge), [others](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-others.distinct-entities), [persist](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-persist.continue), [see](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-see.visual), [state](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-state.condition)

**Through:** the boundary restricts the flow of information, preventing others from visually perceiving or acquiring it

**Novel properties:**
- confined awareness
- asymmetric access
- persistent segregation of knowledge

## Examples
- In 2018, Facebook restricted third-party app access to user data after the Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed personal information of 87 million users. *(computing)*
- The Swiss Federal Data Protection Act of 1992 legally confined personal data processing, requiring consent for information transfer across cantons. *(institutions)*
- A locked diary with a personal key, such as Anne Frank's notebook, kept thoughts invisible to others during her hiding in Amsterdam. *(everyday life)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-privacy.social*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-privacy.social.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*