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The '''Right to Privacy''' is a Constitutional right in the United States that prevents federal and state government officials from violating rights possessed by individuals.  The growth of the Internet and of very large databases containing detailed personal information has made privacy a major issue in the information age.

The '''Right to Privacy''' is a Constitutional right in the United States that prevents federal and state government officials from violating rights possessed by individuals.  The growth of the Internet and of very large databases containing detailed personal information has made privacy a major issue in the information age.

==Brandeis==

==Brandeis==

[[Louis Brandeis]], later a justice of the Supreme Court, defined modern notions of the individual right to privacy in a path-breaking article he published with his partner, Samuel Warren, in the ''Harvard Law Review'' of Dec. 15, 1890, on "The Right to Privacy."  Stimulated by anger at offensive publicity concerning the social activities of Warren's family, it adumbrated a new legal concept that has had lasting influence. Building on diverse analogies in the law of defamation, of literary property, and of eavesdropping, Brandeis argued that the central, if unarticulated, interest protected in these fields was an interest in personal integrity, "the right to be let alone," that ought to be secured against invasion except for some compelling reason of public welfare.

[[Louis Brandeis]], later a justice of the Supreme Court, defined modern notions of the individual right to privacy in a path-breaking article he published with his partner, Samuel Warren, in the ''Harvard Law Review'' (1890), on "The Right to Privacy."  Stimulated by anger at offensive publicity concerning the social activities of Warren's family, it adumbrated a new legal concept that has had lasting influence. Building on diverse analogies in the law of defamation, of literary property, and of eavesdropping, Brandeis argued that the central, if unarticulated, interest protected in these fields was an interest in personal integrity, "the right to be let alone," that ought to be secured against invasion except for some compelling reason of public welfare.

Before Brandeis, [[classical liberalism]] protected privacy as a repository for human passions in order to prevent them from corrupting rational public discourse. Brandeis saw emotions as a positive expression of human nature, and so desired privacy protection for them as protection against repression of the human spirit. Contemporary constitutional theory rejects the restriction of personal passions to private forums and protects the right to personal expression in public.<ref>Grant B. Mindle, "Liberalism, Privacy, and Autonomy" ''Journal of Politics'' 1989 51(3): 575-598 24p.</ref>

Before Brandeis, [[classical liberalism]] protected privacy as a repository for human passions in order to prevent them from corrupting rational public discourse. Brandeis saw emotions as a positive expression of human nature, and so desired privacy protection for them as protection against repression of the human spirit. Contemporary constitutional theory rejects the restriction of personal passions to private forums and protects the right to personal expression in public.<ref>Grant B. Mindle, "Liberalism, Privacy, and Autonomy" ''Journal of Politics'' 1989 51(3): 575-598 24p.</ref>

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

* Johnson, John W. ''Griswold V. Connecticut: Birth Control And The Constitutional Right Of Privacy'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Griswold-V-Connecticut-Constitutional-Landmark/dp/0700613781 excerpt and text search]

* Johnson, John W. ''Griswold V. Connecticut: Birth Control And The Constitutional Right Of Privacy'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Griswold-V-Connecticut-Constitutional-Landmark/dp/0700613781 excerpt and text search]

* Posner, Richard ''The Economics of Justice'' (1981), part 3 pp 231-50 on privacy. [http://www.amazon.com/Economics-Justice-Honorable-Richard-Posner/dp/0674235266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250122931&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]

* Posner, Richard ''The Economics of Justice'' (1981), part 3 pp 231-50 on privacy. [http://www.amazon.com/Economics-Justice-Honorable-Richard-Posner/dp/0674235266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250122931&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]