Ethics and computing: when computers are used to monitor most user activities, what essential personal right is most at risk?

Introduction / Context:
Digital systems can log web activity, location, communications, and workplace behavior. While monitoring can improve safety and compliance, it raises ethical concerns about individual rights and organizational responsibility.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Computers can capture and retain detailed behavioral data.
• We consider the primary right threatened by pervasive monitoring.
• Laws and policies differ by jurisdiction, but the core concept is universal.

Concept / Approach:
Privacy is the right to control personal information about oneself—what is collected, how it is used, and with whom it is shared. Excessive or opaque monitoring intrudes on this right and may erode trust and autonomy.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Common regulatory frameworks (e.g., data protection laws) are framed around privacy—collection limitation, purpose specification, consent, and access rights.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Security: relates to protection from harm or unauthorized access; monitoring can increase security but at privacy cost.
• Back log: operational term, not a personal right.
• Tapping: a method of surveillance, not the right in question.

Common Pitfalls:
Equating surveillance with ‘‘security’’ benefits without weighing privacy; ethical practice requires proportionality and transparency.

Final Answer:
privacy