Are Publicly Available (Personal) Data 'Up for Grabs' ? A Discussion of Three Privacy Arguments

The re-use of publicly available personal data for originally unanticipated purposes has become common practice. This chapter addresses the ethical implications of such secondary processing. It maps the debate around three arguments: a consent-centred position, an approach that focuses on the distinction between data and information, and a line of argument that focuses on the contextual norms that govern the flows of information. It relates these to three privacy conceptions—rights-based, structural, and contextual—and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each. The chapter concludes by advocating for a mixed approach, combining elements of the structural and contextual perspectives.