Issues of Privacy
[FONT=&]The right which is most frequently referred to in this context and is generally most juxtaposed against the use of surveillance is the right to privacy. The right to protection from arbitrary invasion of privacy is a fundamental human right, laid down in article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR has 160 state parties and thus creates obligations which stretch across most of the world.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Article 17 of the ICCPR:[/FONT]
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No one shall be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation
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- Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks
[FONT=&]The European Convention on Human Rights also contains a similar provision protecting the privacy of its citizens. Claims in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have been made pursuant to article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects the “right to respect for private life”[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Article 8 of the European Convention on Human rights stipulates:[/FONT]
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1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence[/FONT]
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2.
There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.[/FONT]
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In United States of America citizen’s privacy is safeguarded by “The Forth Amendment”. One would be hard pressed to find a more eloquent summation of the rights the Fourth Amendment protects than this one by Justice Brandeis:[/FONT]
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“It is not the breaking of his doors, and the rummaging of his drawers, that constitutes the essence of the offense; but it is the invasion of his
indefeasible right of personal security,
personal liberty and private property, where that right has never been forfeited . . .”[/FONT]