"[A]n individual enjoys perfect privacy when he is completely inaccessible to others. This may be broken into three independent components: in perfect privacy no one has any information about X, no one pays any attention to X, and no one has physical access to X. Perfect privacy is, of course, impossible in any society. The possession ro enjoyment of privacy is not an all or nothing concept, however, and the total loss of privacy is as impossible as perfect privacy. A more important concept, then, is loss of privacy. A loss of privacy occurs as others obtain information about an individual, pay attention to him, or gain access to him.17 Gavison uses the term “physical access” to mean “physical proximity – that Y is close enough to touch or observe X through normal use of his senses”.18 Thus, a person suffers a loss of privacy in this sense when others enter into a space where that person has previously enjoyed solitude. A person becomes the subject of attention in a way that involves loss of privacy when he or she is followed, listened to or observed in any other way, for example, when others are able to listen to or observe her or him through the use of surveillance devices. This third element of accessability is information known about an individual. For Gavison, the acquisition of any information at all about an individual involves a loss of privacy in the neutral sense. While the three elements of accessibility are often interrelated, they need not be: Each -element- is independent in the sense htat a loss of privacy may occur througha change in any one of the three, without a necessary loss in the other two. The concept is nevertheless coherent because the three elements are all part of the notion of accessability, and are related in important ways.19"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Privacy
109 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Privacy →
Related Quotes
"It is easy to let men alone when they do things our way. The test of a truly enlightened civilization is one that let…"
"The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy. In a line of decisions, however, going back perhap…"
"The proliferation of abortion bans in the US has decimated reproductive autonomy — the power to control all aspects o…"
"The Court's decisions recognizing a right of privacy also acknowledge that some state regulation in areas protected b…"
"Ginsburg cautioned against the idea of thinking that the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling, which declared abortion was a consti…"
"It is true that in Griswold the right of privacy in question inhered in the marital relationship. Yet the marital cou…"
"[B]etween one and the other, black or white, is a vast area of gray where up or down, yes or no, fades to questions a…"
"No doubt, the central conceptual foundation of the decision, namely, the right to privacy, was solidly grounded in co…"
"Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contrac…"
"I am grateful that I have rights in the proverbial public square--but, as a practical matter, my most cherished right…"