Privacy

 In Constitutional law, the right of people to make personal decisions regarding intimate matters, under the common law the right of people to lead their lives in a manner that is reasonably secluded from public scrutiny, whether such scrutiny, comes from a neighbour’s prying eyes, an investigator's eavesdropping ears, or a news photographer's intrusive camera, and in statutory law, the right of people to be free from unwanted drug testing and electronic surveillance. 

There are various aspects of privacy:-

Right to be let alone
In 1890 the United States jurists Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis wrote "The Right to Privacy", an article in which they argued for the "right to be let alone", using that phrase as a definition of privacy. There is extensive commentary over the meaning of being "let alone", and among other ways, it has been interpreted to mean the right of a person to choose seclusion from the attention of others if they wish to do so, and the right to be immune from scrutiny or being observed in private settings, such as one's own home. Although this early vague legal concept did not describe privacy in a way that made it easy to design broad legal protections of privacy, it strengthened the notion of privacy rights for individuals and began a legacy of discussion on those rights. 

In Olmstead v. United (1927), Supreme court justice, articulated General constructional right “ to be let alone”, “which he described as the most comprehensive and valued right of civilised people”. 

The right of privacy protected by the Constitution gained a foothold in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), in which supreme Court struck down a state forbidding married adults from using Birth control because the statute violated the sanctity of marital bedroom. 

Protecting your privacy 

 By using computer technology, companies can legally collect information about consumers, including what they buy, what medications they take, what sites on the Internet they have visited, and what their credit history is. Computer software can organise this data and prepare it for sale 

Personal data is also protected under article 21 of the Indian constitution which guarantees to every citizen, the right to privacy as a fundamental right.  The supreme court has held in a number of cases that information about a person and the right to access that information by that person is also covered within the ambit of right to privacy 

Relevant section for protection of privacy 

# section 43A- Section 43A of the IT Act explicitly provides that whenever a corporate body possesses or deals with any sensitive personal data or information, and is negligent in maintaining a reasonable security to protect such data or information, which thereby causes wrongful loss or wrongful gain to any person, then such body corporate shall be liable to pay damages to the person(s) so affected.
#section 72A- Section 72A of the IT Act provides for a criminal penalty where in the course of performing a contract, a service provider discloses personal information without the data subject’s consent or in breach of a lawful contract and with the knowledge that he or she will cause or is likely to cause wrongful loss or gain.

PRIVACY 

By –Shambhavi

VIP-AUTHOR