Privacy is a fundamental human right. It is recognized in many countries to be as central to individual human dignity and social values as Freedom of Association and Freedom of Speech. Simply put, privacy is the border where we draw a line between how far a society can intrude into our personal lives.

Countries differ in how they define privacy. In the UK for example, privacy laws can be traced back to the 1300s when the English monarchy created laws protecting people from eavesdroppers and peeping toms. These regulations referred to the intrusion of a person’s comfort and not even the King of England could enter into a poor persons house without their permission. From this perspective, privacy is defined in terms of personal space and private property. In 1880 American lawyers, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis described privacy as the ‘right to be left alone’. In this case, privacy is synonymous with notions of solitude and the right for a private life. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically protected territorial and communications privacy which by that became part of constitutions worldwide. The European Commission on

Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights also noted in 1978 that privacy encompasses the right to establish relationships with others and develop emotional well-being.