Right to privacy
The
Right to privacy comes under Article 12 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.[1]
It is often claimed, particularly by those in the eye of the
media, that their right to privacy is violated when information about their private lives is reported in the press. The point of view of the press, however, is that the general public have a right to know personal information about those with
celebrity status.
In the United States: The
U.S. Supreme Court has found that the Constitution implicitly grants a right to privacy against governmental intrusion. This right to privacy has been the justification for decisions involving a wide range of
civil liberties cases, including
Pierce v. Society of Sisters, which invalidated a successful
1922 Oregon initiative requiring compulsory
public education,
Roe v. Wade, which struck down a
Texas abortion law and thus restricted state powers to enforce laws against
abortion, and
Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a Texas
sodomy law and thus eliminated state powers to enforce laws against
sodomy.
The article by Supreme Court Justices
Warren and Brandeis entitled "The Right To Privacy" in the December 15, 1890 issue of the
Harvard Law Review is often regarded as the first implicit declaration of a U.S. right to privacy. See
[1]. This right is frequently debated. Strict
constructivists argue that no such right exists (or at least that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to protect such a right), while some civil libertarians argue that the right invalidates many types of currently allowed civil surveilance (wiretaps, public cameras, etc.).