Contents

• Origin & Developments in the laws of privacy
• Definition of Privacy
• Why do we need privacy?
• Privacy impact assessment
• Privacy international
• Right to privacy from the media
• Privacy – Human rights
• Can the media & privacy ever get on?
• A new approach to the media & privacy
• Conclusion
• References

Description

The earliest and simplest definition of privacy came from Judge Cooley. He defined privacy as "the right to be left alone". This was only a negative claim. During the century different definitions moved from a negative claim towards a more positive right, a right to control the information about ourselves is able to communicate the information or to keep it for ourselves. The Younger Committee, an official inquiry into privacy which reported in 1972, decided that the word privacy could not be defined satisfactorily. The Calcutt Committee, an inquiry specifically into press behavior in respect of personal privacy: Report of the Committee on Privacy and Related Matters, said in 1990 that "nowhere have we found a wholly satisfactory statutory definition of privacy".