The Right To Privacy in India
Introduction
Today, the degradation of the inner life is symbolized by the fact that the only place sacred from interruption is the private toilet. - Lewis Mumford, American philosopher
The needs of human beings start from the most primary needs such as food, clothing and shelter to secondary needs such as education, work and recreation and further on to wants such as entertainment, good food, leisure travel, etc . The question that must be asked is where does privacy fit into all these needs and wants? Is it a need or is it a want? Is it required anyway?
One might assert that the degree of privacy dictates whether it is a want or a need. A basic degree of privacy is a primary need in any civilised society. As the degree of privacy increases, it evolves into a secondary need and further to a want. As civilisation evolves, the law has evolved from guaranteeing the most basic needs of humans by converting them to rights and then slowly guaranteeing needs not necessarily for existence as rights, as and when society has been able to gather the resources to provide for these needs.
Yet, questions remain. What is privacy? As pointed out by Roger Clarke, we use many words without exactly considering their meaning. When we use words such as 'eat ' and 'zebra ', it does not matter, but when we use words such as 'discrimination ' and 'ethnicity ', one cannot have a rational discussion without having a common understanding of the terms .
Furthermore, what do we mean by 'degree of privacy '? The standards of privacy vary very widely from culture to culture and therefore even the law must accordingly fit into the standards of the society. The standards of privacy which a person living in the densely populated slums of Mumbai finds acceptable are totally different from the standards which the people living in a sparsely populated and remote village in Himachal Pradesh find acceptable, assuming that we leave alone the standards employed by the Scandinavians. Can there
Today, the degradation of the inner life is symbolized by the fact that the only place sacred from interruption is the private toilet. - Lewis Mumford, American philosopher
The needs of human beings start from the most primary needs such as food, clothing and shelter to secondary needs such as education, work and recreation and further on to wants such as entertainment, good food, leisure travel, etc . The question that must be asked is where does privacy fit into all these needs and wants? Is it a need or is it a want? Is it required anyway?
One might assert that the degree of privacy dictates whether it is a want or a need. A basic degree of privacy is a primary need in any civilised society. As the degree of privacy increases, it evolves into a secondary need and further to a want. As civilisation evolves, the law has evolved from guaranteeing the most basic needs of humans by converting them to rights and then slowly guaranteeing needs not necessarily for existence as rights, as and when society has been able to gather the resources to provide for these needs.
Yet, questions remain. What is privacy? As pointed out by Roger Clarke, we use many words without exactly considering their meaning. When we use words such as 'eat ' and 'zebra ', it does not matter, but when we use words such as 'discrimination ' and 'ethnicity ', one cannot have a rational discussion without having a common understanding of the terms .
Furthermore, what do we mean by 'degree of privacy '? The standards of privacy vary very widely from culture to culture and therefore even the law must accordingly fit into the standards of the society. The standards of privacy which a person living in the densely populated slums of Mumbai finds acceptable are totally different from the standards which the people living in a sparsely populated and remote village in Himachal Pradesh find acceptable, assuming that we leave alone the standards employed by the Scandinavians. Can there
Bibliography: Clarke, Roger, ' Introduction to Dataveillance and Information Privacy, and Definitions of Terms ', available online at < http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/Intro.html >, last visited on 30th July, 2006. Denning, Lord, 1993, What next in the law, 1st Indian Reprint, Aditya Books Private Limited, New Delhi, pp. 219-270. Diwedi, Vishnu Prasad, 'The right to privacy: A new horizon ', in the AIR Journal (1991). Privacy International, 'Privacy and Human Rights 2003: Overview ', available online at http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2003/overview.htm#ftnref8 , last visited 1st August 2006. Warren, Samuel D. and Brandeis, Louis D., 1890, 'The Right to Privacy ', Harvard Law Review, IV (5), available online at < www.louisville.edu/library/law/brandeis/privacy.html >, last visited 1st August 2006.