The Right to Privacy

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how the Bush Administration's terrorist surveillance program, the government's recording of Internet searches and other forms of data collection have all raised basic concerns about the rights possessed by United States citizens. The paper explains that privacy as a legal right and concept is notoriously difficult to define and demonstrates how varying definitions of privacy often arise from what one segment of society views as a moral imperative. The paper brings varied court rulings that show how definitions of privacy in the United States continue to be highly flexible.

From the Paper:

"To understand the opposing sides, one must first understand the issue. Privacy as a legal right and precept is notoriously difficult to describe. Even to the lay person, it can mean many different things. Privacy, in the widest sense, might be best understood as the right of an individual to control access to personal information and activities; to prevent others from gaining access to these facts and activities unless there exists some pressing social need for this "personal data" to made public knowledge. As well, privacy could be said to include the freedom from such searches and seizures that might tend to expose this "personal data" - in particular, such searches and seizures as might be conducted without regard to due process of law, and which violate other basic principles and rights established under law."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Buckley, William F. "Your Rights, Their Rights." National Review 13 Dec. 2004: 58.
• Ganz, John S. "It's Already Public: Why Federal Officers Should Not Need Warrants to Use GPS Vehicle Tracking Devices." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 95.4 (2005): 1325+.
• Hickey, Adam. "Between Two Spheres: Comparing State and Federal Approaches to the Right to Privacy and Prohibitions against Sodomy." Yale Law Journal 111.4 (2002): 993+.
• Jaffa, Harry V., and Joseph Sobran. "A Right to Privacy?." National Review 24 Mar. 1989: 51+.
• Kamisar, Yale. "In Defense of the Search and Seizure Exclusionary Rule." Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 26.1 (2003): 119+.

More papers on The Right to Privacy:

• Essay # 90806 : "Constitutional Amendment: The Right to Privacy"
• Analytical Essay # 25667 : "The Right to Privacy"
• Book Review # 15389 : "The Right To Privacy" by Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy"
• Essay # 143773 : "The Right To Privacy: Drug Testing In The Military"

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