Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy is often controversial, depending on the content or nature of the secret, the group or people keeping the secret, and the motivation for secrecy.
Secrecy by government entities is often decried as excessive or in promotion of poor operation[by whom?]; excessive revelation of information on individuals can conflict with virtues ofprivacy andconfidentiality. It is often contrasted withsocial transparency.
Secrecy can exist in a number of different ways: encoding orencryption (where mathematical and technical strategies are used to hide messages), true secrecy (where restrictions are put upon those who take part of the message, such as throughgovernment security classification)[citation needed] andobfuscation, where secrets are hidden in plain sight behind complex idiosyncratic language (jargon) orsteganography.
Another classification proposed byClaude Shannon in 1948 reads that there are three systems of secrecy within communication:[1]
Animals conceal the location of theirden ornest frompredators. Squirrels bury nuts, hiding them, and they try to remember their locations later.[2]
Humans attempt to consciously conceal aspects of themselves from others due toshame, or fromfear of violence, rejection, harassment, loss ofacceptance, or loss ofemployment. Humans may also attempt to conceal aspects of their ownself which they are not capable of incorporating psychologically into theirconscious being.Families sometimes maintain "family secrets", obliging family members never to discuss disagreeable issues concerning the family with outsiders or sometimes even within the family. Many "family secrets" are maintained by using a mutually agreed-upon construct (an official family story) when speaking with outside members. Agreement to maintain the secret is often coerced through "shaming" and reference to familyhonor. The information may even be something as trivial as arecipe.[citation needed]
Secrets are sometimes kept to provide the pleasure of surprise. This includes keeping secret about asurprise party, not tellingspoilers of a story, and avoidingexposure of a magic trick.[citation needed]
Keeping one'sstrategysecret – is important in many aspects ofgame theory.[citation needed]
Inanthropology secret sharing is one way for people to establish traditional relations with other people.[3] A commonly used[citation needed] narrative that describes this kind of behavior isJoseph Conrad's short story "The Secret Sharer".[citation needed]
Governments often attempt to conceal information from other governments and the public. These state secrets can includeweapon designs, military plans,diplomaticnegotiation tactics, and secrets obtained illicitly from others ("intelligence"). Most nations have some form ofOfficial Secrets Act (theEspionage Act in the U.S.) and classify material according to the level of protection needed (hence the term "classified information"). An individual needs asecurity clearance for access and other protection methods, such as keeping documents in asafe, are stipulated.[4]
Few people dispute the desirability of keepingCritical Nuclear Weapon Design Information secret, but many believe government secrecy to be excessive and too often employed for political purposes. Many countries have laws that attempt to limit government secrecy, such as the U.S.Freedom of Information Act andsunshine laws. Government officials sometimesleak information they are supposed to keep secret. (For a recent (2005) example, seePlame affair.)[5]
Secrecy in elections is a growing issue, particularly secrecy of vote counts on computerized vote counting machines. While voting, citizens are acting in a unique sovereign or "owner" capacity (instead of being a subject of the laws, as is true outside of elections) in selecting their government servants. It is argued that secrecy is impermissible as against the public in the area of elections where the government gets all of its power and taxing authority. In any event, permissible secrecy varies significantly with the context involved.[citation needed]
Organizations, ranging from multi-national for profitcorporations to nonprofitcharities, keep secrets forcompetitive advantage, to meet legal requirements, or, in some cases, to conceal nefarious behavior.[citation needed]New products under development, unique manufacturing techniques, or simply lists of customers are types of information protected bytrade secret laws.
Research on corporate secrecy has studied the factors supporting secret organizations.[6] In particular, scholars in economics and management have paid attention to the way firms participating in cartels work together to maintain secrecy and conceal their activities from antitrust authorities.[7] The diversity of the participants (in terms of age and size of the firms) influences their ability to coordinate to avoid being detected.
Thepatent system encourages inventors to publish information in exchange for a limited timemonopoly on its use, though patent applications are initially secret.Secret societies use secrecy as a way to attract members by creating a sense of importance.[citation needed]
Shell companies may be used to launder money from criminal activity, to finance terrorism, or to evade taxes. Registers ofbeneficial ownership aim at fighting corporate secrecy in that sense.[8]
Other lawsrequire organizations to keep certain information secret, such asmedical records (HIPAA in the U.S.), orfinancial reports that are under preparation (to limitinsider trading). Europe has particularly strict laws aboutdatabase privacy.[9]
Preservation of secrets is one of the goals ofinformation security. Techniques used includephysical security andcryptography. The latter depends on the secrecy ofcryptographic keys. Many believe that security technology can be more effective if it itself is not kept secret.[10]
Information hiding is a design principle in muchsoftware engineering. It is considered easier to verify software reliability if one can be sure that different parts of the program can only access (and therefore depend on) a known limited amount of information.[citation needed]
Military secrecy is the concealing of information about martial affairs that is purposely not made available to the general public and hence to any enemy, in order to gain an advantage or to not reveal a weakness, to avoidembarrassment, or to help inpropaganda efforts. Most military secrets are tactical in nature, such as the strengths and weaknesses ofweapon systems,tactics, training methods, plans, and the number and location of specific weapons. Some secrets involve information in broader areas, such as secure communications,cryptography, intelligence operations, and cooperation with third parties.[11]
US Government rights in regard to military secrecy were uphold in thelandmark legal case ofUnited States v. Reynolds, decided by theSupreme Court in 1953.[12]
Excessive secrecy is often cited[13] as a source of much human conflict. One may have tolie in order to hold a secret, which might lead topsychological repercussions.[original research?] The alternative, declining to answer when asked something, may suggest the answer and may therefore not always be suitable for keeping a secret. Also, the other may insist that one answer the question.[improper synthesis?]
Nearly 2500 years ago,Sophocles[who?] wrote: 'Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.'.[citation needed]Gautama Siddhartha said: "Three things cannot long stay hidden: thesun, themoon and thetruth.".
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