Global Privacy… Are You Being Watched??

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Global Privacy… Are You Being Watched??

Introduction

Privacy has grown to become an intensely complex and important human rights topic in the information age. The right to privacy underlines human dignity. One of the first privacy laws can be traced back hundreds of years, to 1361, when England enacted the Justice of the Peace Act, which allowed the arrest of eavesdroppers and peeping toms.1

About every country in the world explicitly recognizes a right of privacy in their constitution, allowing people to have a right to home communication secrecy and inviolability at the very least. Although the right to privacy is not explicitly documented in the United States’, Ireland’s or India’s Constitution, it is recognized in numerous provisions form their respective courts.

The US airliner's "risk analysis" system

A globally controversial topic concerns the tradeoff between privacy and security. At what point does enacting probing directives to strengthen our nation’s security impinge upon our own personal privacy?

After the destruction of the twin towers on September 11th, the federal government and airliners have decided to implement a new computer system in order to gauge the level of terrorist risk posed by every single passenger on every flight in the United States. The new computer program, dubbed the “Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II” (CAPPS II) shall assign passengers a color code based on their destination, city of departure, traveling partners and date of ticket purchase. Travelers who are coded “green” will pass through, “yellow” travelers will have to go through further screening, and red ones will be prohibited from boarding. Eight...

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8. Privacy as an Aspect of Human Dignity, [1964] 39 New York U. L.R.

9. Sara Kehaulani Goo. Fliers to Be Rated for Risk Level. September 9, 2003

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45434-2003Sep8?language=printer

10. Mark Glasser. China’s Internet Revolution. November 11, 2003

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/world_reports/1068766903.php

11. Privacy Watch – China and the US. December 2003

http://www.cotse.net/privacy/us_china.htm

12. Caslon Analytics. Caslon Analytics Privacy Guide. October 1, 2003

http://www.caslon.com.au/privacyguide6.htm

13. Stuart Millar. Europe votes to end data privacy. May 31, 2002

http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,725204,00.html

14. Detroit Free Press. Europe’s privacy laws cause rift with US. October 30, 1998

http://www.freep.com/tech/qdata30.htm

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