While some may get confused about the difference between privacy and secrecy, there is a difference between the two. Both terms involve either sharing or withholding information. It can be difficult to distinguish the difference between privacy and secrecy, but there are ethical concerns that go hand-in-hand with the two terms.

In order for a message to be considered private, other people should not be expecting any information to come forward, and they should not expect to be able to access this information. For example, if a coworker asks if you have ever committed a crime, you will most likely say no and decline to tell them that you were once caught for shoplifting. We are reluctant to share this information with this person because we do not know them very well yet, and it is normal to keep our work lives separate from our personal lives. This does not necessarily hurt our coworker because it does not involve him or her directly.

Secrecy, on the other hand, is unethical. Secrecy occurs when information is withheld from a source who has a legitimate need to know this information. For instance, if you remain quiet when a person from your class asks if anyone stole her necklace, and you saw the person who took it from her locker, you are being secretive. The girl has a right to know who took her necklace because it is her personal belonging, and you are most likely obligated to tell her because of this. It is unethical to withhold this information because in doing so, you are not helping the girl at all when you have the ability to help by simply saying who you saw.

The difference between privacy and secrecy is a question of ethics. It can be difficult to determine what is ethical versus unethical, but nevertheless, it is still important to distinguish between the two. While privacy can be ethical, secrecy is usually not. Secrecy carries a negative connotation, as most secrets have the capability to harm someone, either by hurting their feelings or their reputation. Privacy, however, is a basic right that we all have. It is expected that we do not share every aspect of our personal lives with everyone we meet, but it becomes an issue when we know that not sharing this information could harm another person.

A lot of people aren’t aware of the difference between privacy and secrecy, and this can affect our relationships with each other. For instance, some people like to use privacy as an excuse for bad behavior, when in reality they are being secretive about what they are doing. If your best friend’s boyfriend asks you if she has been cheating on him, and you know for a fact that she has been dating another guy, you might decide to keep quiet because you feel it would be an invasion of your friend’s privacy. But both you and your friend are guilty of being secretive, not private, because neither of you are sharing this potentially harmful information with her boyfriend.

It can be difficult to decide whom we share information with and whom we hide it from. Even so, it’s important that we know when we are behaving in an ethical or an unethical manner to prevent even more misconceptions about the terms.