Privacy

One thing I learn from this Debate is about the privacy ordinance.

The scenario is simple: If you wish to hire someone to take care of your children, should you be allowed to check on the criminal records (especially those related to paedophilia) of the applicant ?

To my (and probably your) surprise, many of our senior officials say no - this is the privacy of the applicant.

What about the two sides of the argument in this book ?

Of course one side say yes: there is a strong security consideration which overrides the need to protect privacy. The potential employer should have the right to check on the information - without the need of a consent.

How about the other side ? Well, you can choose not disclosing any information of this kind - that's your privacy. The trade off is your potential employer would have the right to, and inevitably will, not hiring you - assuming that you have a positive record of that kind.

And, you see, this logic also applies well to the recruitment of medical students and employing doctors - potentially avoiding the embarrassment of having a pin-hole-camera peeper as our graduate.