Without Respect for Privacy, the Quality of Life for Us, the Commune and Society Cannot Improve

From recent news events, and from problems that have arisen in the day-to-day running of the Anti-Cancer Commune itself, I feel that some members do not value privacy, which is regrettable. Privacy protection is a product of social civilisation and progress; it treats people as people. Respecting one's own and others' privacy is a mark of civilisation. And when members respect themselves and others, that reflects the level of a society's civilisation.

Some members, because we respect privacy, suspect that the Commune's operators themselves intend to commit fraud. That is even more regrettable. In five years of operation, the Commune has hired companies with no capital relationship for review and other work, publicly disclosed beneficiaries, publicly disclosed the funds, and publicly disclosed the operators' own information. This has already shown ample sincerity, and I hope members can understand. We want to change the old ways of charity so that beneficiaries have dignity — which is also about giving everyone dignity.

On respecting the right to privacy, there is a passage online. I have copied it here, hoping that each of us, starting from ourselves and from the Commune, can work toward members' civilisation and progress.

The Value of Liberty

The right to privacy includes many elements — such as the right to peace of personal life, the right to confidentiality of personal information, and the right to secrecy of personal communications — all of which embody the value of liberty as 'removing improper human interference'. Meanwhile, the value of liberty as 'dominion' and 'control' is embodied in the right to use one's privacy, that is, the right holder may lawfully use his privacy according to his own will to engage in various activities that satisfy his own needs. The exercise of the right to privacy must likewise not violate mandatory provisions or offend public order and good morals; that is, rights must not be abused.

The Value of Order

The establishment and protection of the right to privacy ensure the relative stability of interpersonal relations, the regularity of human conduct and the security of person and property. This is mainly reflected in the following: by establishing the right to privacy, rights and obligations are allocated reasonably, so as to adjust the conflict between the right to know and the right to privacy; and legislation on the right to privacy and its strict enforcement not only safeguard personal peace and security, realise basic harmony between the individual and society, and achieve the goal of stability and unity across society, but also ensure that people have more energy to study and work, and to better benefit human society.

The Value of Dignity

The right to privacy is a specific personality right, and human dignity is the foundation of the object of personality rights, namely personal interests. The right to privacy therefore naturally embodies human dignity — to protect the right to privacy is to protect human dignity. The right to privacy embodies a kind of survival art of modern civilisation; connected with this, the right to privacy also implies respect for others. If the law did not protect certain interests that belong solely to the individual sphere, human dignity would be utterly lost.