Right to Privacy in The lnformation Age

Respect for privacy has emerged as one of the most profound values of a civilized society. It underscores human dignity. Hence various jurisdictions across the globe have expressly recognised the right to privacy in their Constitutions. Major international law declarations also include privacy as a human right emphasizing the need for the global community to operationalise their legal framework respecting right to inviolability of both (i) person and (ii) personal information. And this value becomes most sought after in the information age owing to technologicaladvancementsresulting in widespread use of internet, biometrics, surveillance through intercepting communication etc. Right to Privacy in the Information Age analyses the concept and evolution of Privacy through the Constitutional provisions and judicial precedents exploring the impact of modern scientific technology on the right to privacy This book is relevant for students, academicians, lawyers and data professionals to appreciate the inter-linkages between technological developments and law.

Dr. Anju Vali Tikoo is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi and has teaching experience of more than 17 yrs. She has taught Public Control of Business, MRTP, Consumer Protection, Law of Crimes and Criminology in Faculty of Law, DU. Her main research interests are Criminal Laws, Human Rights and Public Health Laws. Her doctoral research on organ transplant law initiated her to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to understand the complexities of human nature and behaviour. She has been the visiting faculty in LNJN Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, MHRD, New-Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia and Delhi Judicial Academy. She has delivered several lectures at different platforms having contributed thought provoking articles in journals of national repute.

Privacy is a fundamental human right which has become the most sought after human right.Privacy underscores human dignity and values such as freedom of speech and expression and that of association. Privacy is recognised around the world in different regions and cultures in one form or the other. Various International Law Declarations, Covenants, Conventions, Treaties have expressly recognised the right to privacy. Many countries include the right to inviolability of home secrecy, communication, right of access and control of personal information in their written Constitution. And where it doesn't find an express inclusion in the legislative framework, the courts have found this right by expansive interpretation of varying provisions in either the Constitution, other enactments or even on the touchstone of international law obligations.

Though the text of Indian Constitution is silent with reference to right to privacy ,the Supreme Court through a catena of decisions has played a crucial role in establishing this right in Indian legal framework. The foundation of this right was laid down in Kharak Singh (1963)' followed by Gobind (1975) and then R R Gopal(1994) fully established the right to privacy.The respect for privacy has been one of the profound values of a civilized society. Civilisation is measured by the degree of industrialization, urbanization , migration of people from rural to urban places in search of greener pastures resulting in an attitude of individualism and demand for privacy. Not only the State but even private players in the information age are increasingly indulging in the use of sophisticated devices and technologies like internet, biometrics and interception of communication for multifarious reasons. These scientific advancements are both a boon and bane.

Through this academic venture a sincere attempt has been made to understand the concept and evolution of the right to privacy. Constitutional provisions along with judicial precedents have been discussed to understand the significance of privacy. Also, the potential of newer technologies infringing the privacy of persons has been analysed. This book is first of its kind in exploring the impact of modern science and technology tools on the right to privacy.

In earlier times law only gave remedy to physical interference with a man or his property. The intense intellectual and emotional life and the heightening of sensations, which came with the advance of civilization, made it clear to men that only a part of the pain, pleasure, and profit of life lay in physical things. Man's spiritual nature, feelings and intellect gained importance. This made man realise that there are several properties of human life, which are not shared by animal such as feeling of shame, guilt, indignity and disrespect etc. It is felt that the origin of privacy is rooted in the above unshared properties of human life which is natural yet different from animal life. So it can be said that the progress of civilization itself is the progress towards a society of privacy. The respect for privacy has been one of the profound values of a civilized society. It is not by any chance a recent development. There are various references in religious and other texts of ancient India, which cover various aspects of privacy.

With the emergence of modern nation-states the increasingly individualistic society shifted the focus of the society to the individual. This was furthered and sustained by urbanization, which is an outcome of industrialization.

A person whose life was open to the community in a village could live a life of seclusion under urban conditions. Further, the change of the work place from home to factories or markets and the quality of time spent on work increased the formal relationship at workplace. It correspondingly increased the privacy of home. The formal relationship resulted in 'respectability' among the urban working classes of the industrial countries. It also contributed to enhancement in privacy in the third quarter of the 19th century. As such there was no great threat to privacy at that time. A person's privacy could be invaded only by intrusion into his solitude or seclusion. So there was not much scope for the law to develop.

The right to privacy in the form we know it, however, had to await the advent or the urbanization of our way of life including, as an instance, the institutionalization of mass publicity, because only then was a significant and everyday threat to personal dignity and individuality realised. Warren & Brandeis examining the threat posed by the press felt: "The press is overstepping in every direction the obvious bounds of propriety and of decency. Gossip is no longer the resource of the idle and of vicious, but has become a trade, which is pursued with industry as well as effrontery. To satisfy a prurient taste the details of sexual relations are spread broadcast in the columns of the daily papers. 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 that solitude and privacy have become more essential to the individual; but modern enterprise and invention have, through invasions upon his privacy, subjected him to mental pain and distress far greater than could be inflicted by mere bodily injury." The problem is not that of a simple rural gossip. The media and other forms of communication tend to be treated as the very foundation of truth and authenticity and tend to command an unquestioning recognition of what it reports.

Either the modern society or in the state of nature, men are born free and live to remain free. Freedom is given so much importance in the man's order of things that it is invariably found in almost all the constitutions of the world. Freedom mostly takes the form of non-interference by the State in the individual's affairs. Privacy is an aspect of this freedom or autonomy. Like all freedoms it has an important function in the development of man.

**Contents and Sample Pages**