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Teaneck resident's early works relevant today
Alan Westin, one of the first and most widely respected scholars to explore the dilemmas of privacy in the information age, died Feb. 18 Monday of cancer at a hospice in Saddle River. , N.J. The longtime Teaneck resident was 83.
A professor of public law and government, Mr. Westin taught at Columbia University for nearly four decades. Through his prolific academic writing and frequent media appearances, he became nationally known as one of the most knowledgeable, prescient and reasonable voices on privacy questions in modern society.
Mr. Westin "was the most important privacy scholar since Louis Brandeis," said Jeffrey Rosen, a George Washington University law professor, referring to the late Supreme Court justice who memorably articulated "the right to be left alone."
Mr. Westin recast Brandeis' definition for the era of computers, credit cards and direct mail. Privacy, Westin essentially argued, was more than the right to be left alone. It was the ability to control how much information about ourselves we reveal to others, and how and when to share it.
Mr. Westin's wife of 53 years, Bea Shapoff Westin, died in 2007, and a son, David Westin, died in 2003. Survivors include two children, Jeremy Westin of Los Angeles and Debra Westin of Teaneck; and three grandchildren. He had cancer, Jeremy Westin said.Alan Furman Westin first rose to prominence in 1967 with the publication of "Privacy and Freedom," a book that 46 years later is still considered a landmark work in the field.
Sponsored by the New York City Bar Association and the Carnegie Corporation, the book shocked some readers with its depiction of the latest developments in surveillance. These included microphones hidden in water coolers, sophisticated new photographic techniques and perhaps most relevant for today computerized data collection.
"The facts gain force from his dispassionate recital, and he goes beyond them to suggest how rampant technology, whose benefits we cannot be expected to abjure, may be brought under control," Walter Goodman wrote in a review for The New York Times.
Writing in The New Republic magazine, reviewer Ronald Goldfarb called the book a "hallmark contribution to the public enlightenment."
Mr. Westin wrote or edited more than two dozen books, including "Databanks in a Free Society: Computers, Record-Keeping and Privacy" (1972), which he co-authored with Michael Baker.
His writings were cited by the Supreme Court and his counsel sought by congressional committees and federal regulatory agencies, particularly during the debates in the 1970s over credit reporting, medical records and other privacy concerns.
Mr. Westin was cited as one of the first scholars to recognize the threats of modern technology and as one of the first to present a measured philosophy in a debate often charged with emotion and ideology.
He was described at times as a civil libertarian, but he acknowledged the tensions between privacy and freedom, disclosure and surveillance.
Bob Belair, a Washington privacy lawyer and a longtime collaborator of Westin's, noted in an interview that Westin took pride in being a Libra the sign of the Zodiac represented by a scale.
"If you're a Libra," Mr. Westin once told an interviewer, "balance is what the stars have given you or cursed you to."
Alan Furman Westin was born Oct. 11, 1929, in New York City, where his parents ran a men's clothing store.
He received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Florida in 1948, a bachelor of law degree from Harvard Law School in 1951 and a doctorate in political science from Harvard University in 1964. He said that he became interested in privacy during the communist witch hunts of the McCarthy era.
Westin was for a number of years the editor of Civil Liberties Review, a publication of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation. From 1993 to 2003, he and Belair published the newsletter Privacy and American Business and ran a related conference service for corporate executives.
Lance Hoffman, the director of the Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute at George Washington University, said that one of Westin's distinguishing qualities was his ability to bridge different fields, including the law, technology, philosophy and history. At the time of his death, he was at work on a magnum opus about privacy in Western civilization.
"Pericles, in his famous funeral oration, said Athens does not attempt to control people in their private lives," he once told the Times.
Mr. Westin's wife of 53 years, Bea Shapoff Westin, died in 2007, and a son, David Westin, died in 2003. Survivors include two children, Jeremy Westin of Los Angeles and Debra Westin of Teaneck; and three grandchildren.He had cancer, Jeremy Westin said.
5 Entries
Alan and Bea came over to our house several years ago to help put up our sukkah. Bea, of course, brought wonderful decorations. Alan, full of energy, played the biggest role in setting it up, as my husband has physical limitations. I was amazed at the two of them (and very grateful). Such vitality - and they were quite a bit older than we were. Although we knew them through Emeth, we became closer in their last few years and Howard got to know Alan through the ROMEOs, which he - naturally - named. (Retired Old Men Eating Out) We will always remember them.
Jacqueline and Howard Guttman
February 22, 2013
Alan pioneered the application of the right to privacy to the new age of computer technologies He was a mentor to many scholars and writers who specialized in privacy from the 1980s to the present, including myself, and was truly the preeminent expert in this field. He was always a good friend. Robert Ellis Smith, Providence RI.
February 21, 2013
I was so sorry to hear of your loss. The thoughts of many are with you at this time of sorrow. Alan was a visionary and my time working at P&AB will always hold a special place in my memories.
Nick Apruzzi
February 20, 2013
may alan's be for a blessed memory.
cindy simon
February 20, 2013
Dr. Westin will be greatly missed. His work profoundly influenced both my choice of career and how I have attempted to apply a moral code to it. I am grateful I was able to meet him in person and to express my gratitude for his huge contributions to the profession and study of privacy. My sincere condolences to his family in their time of grief.
Lewis Oleinick, CIPP/US/G
February 20, 2013
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