Privacy is not only a right, but it is also a social value

**Privacy: “**The intensity and complexity of life, attendant upon advancing civilization, have rendered necessary some retreat from the world, and man, under the refining influence of culture has become more sensitive to publicity, so solitude and privacy have become more essential to the individual”

Both the CFEU and the ECHR have a provision for privacy

Art. 7 CFEU

Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and communications

Art. 8 CFEU

• Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her
• Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some legitimate basis laid down by the law. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified
• Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority

Art. 8 ECHR

• Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence
• There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is 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.

Data protection:

• The right to control the way others use the information concerning us
• The protection of life choices against any form of public control and social stigma
• The boundaries protecting each person’s right not to be simplified, objectified, and evaluated out of context

Right to Privacy

Right to be let alone is conceived as the freedom from any unauthorized intrusion or interference by public and private bodies into private life

• Negative freedom → Freedom from interference in personal life
• Protects rights to private and family life, home, and communications
• Acts as a shield against unwanted intrusion
• Focuses on the right to be left alone

Right to Data Protection

It is based on the concept of personal data, requires that the (authorized) use of the same by private and public bodies is made in accordance with specific legal standards

• Positive freedom → Right to information self-determination
• Involves the control over one’s personal information
• allows individuals to define how their data is used
• concerned with the power to make decisions about personal data

Privacy in the US

**4th Amendment: “**The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”

Olmstead: the first eavesdropping case

→ Olmstead was illegally importing and selling alcohol and to collect evidence, the agents, placed wiretaps on Olmstead’s telephone lines

→ the did not set foot on Olmstead’s property

→ In conclusion the 4th Amendment did not protect Olmstead’s conversations as it only covers searches of “material things — the person, the house, his papers or his effects”

Brandeis’s dissenting opinion:

“Every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the 4th Amendment”