Privacy is one of the pressing issues of the digital
age. New technologies and surveillance practices continuously
present new privacy threats. This paper reports an exploratory
qualitative study on non-experts’ metaphors for privacy
in future society using focus group material from three countries:
Finland, Germany and Israel. Using thematic analysis,
four metaphorical frames for privacy are constructed: ‘dodo’,
‘hemline’, ‘savings’ and ‘foundations of our home’. The
frames are analysed using the causal layered analysis method
to uncover their systemic and worldview components. Taken
together, the metaphorical frames highlight two key concerns
of individuals: their struggle for control over a dominating
future, on the one hand, and the problem of trust in collective
means of privacy protection, on the other hand. The article
concludes that the views of non-experts need to be included
in broad societal discussion about a desirable future society
and the role of privacy in that society. This discussion needs to
seriously consider systemic interconnections that challenge
privacy as well as the whole ecosystem of metaphorical
frames for privacy.

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• Framing the future of privacy: citizens’ metaphors for privacy in the coming digital society