Privacy Makes Speech Possible

The expectation of privacy is a foundation for speech

By Team Phreeli

Every time we speak we have an audience in mind. Whether we’re chatting with a friend, making a speech, posting on the internet, or talking to ourselves, we expect a certain group of listeners to hear what we’re saying. Our expectation of what we say privately versus publicly defines the space in which we speak. If we did not know who would hear us—if we couldn’t anticipate our audience—it might be difficult to speak at all.

We already expect that our communications with our doctor, our lawyer, and other trusted professionals will be private, but we expect privacy in our more informal personal relationships as well. What is said at a dinner table is not said to the world. What is texted to a friend is not broadcast to everyone. But even a broadcast has its audience. We tailor what we say to the audience we expect.

Phreeli’s commitment to privacy is based not only on a recognition of the importance of privacy for its own sake. We also believe that the expectation of privacy is a foundation for speech in general. In our view, without privacy, our freedom of speech wouldn’t be possible.

Before we speak publicly, we have to figure out just what to say. Thinking involves trying out beliefs, considering possibilities, and exploring arguments. We draft ideas and take risks with possible beliefs before we commit ourselves to positions and to the consequences of taking those positions. We may not know what we do believe until we think through what we might believe. This process involves entertaining ideas we may finally reject. If we didn’t have a private space for reflection, we would self-censor before we could think something through, and we would never arrive at informed beliefs.

If our notes, drafts, messages, and browsing history were accessible to everyone, or to unknown others, the distinction between ‘reflection’ and ‘publication’ would collapse. Before we had a chance to craft our ideas, we would already have “spoken” them to an audience we didn’t anticipate. What is socially permissible would decide what we can think before we have had the chance to decide for ourselves. Aware of our lack of privacy, all of our speech would then be subject to an uncontrollable “prior restraint.” 

The constant possibility of surveillance deprives us of an essential precondition for speech. Phreeli is a foundation for restoring the private space we need to speak.