Right To Privacy: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The term ‘Privacy’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Privatus’ which means separated from the rest. Though it is a variable concept and varies with cultural or social context, but actually it means, the right to be left alone. The need for Privacy is to create a balance between individual and social interests, which is equally applicable to past, present and future society. In this sense, the necessity of Privacy was found in the dawn of human civilization. The idea of Privacy is as old as Biblical periods. Also, the growth and expansion of Privacy varied according to the variation in different stages of human civilization. Hence, the description of origin and history of Right to Privacy should proceed from the ancient period to the modern period. In fact, the idea of Privacy was originated in the animal society and gradually it has been incorporated into the human society.

The idea of Privacy, which was originated in the animal society, has been adopted in the primitive human society, where the traces of it were first found. According to different Anthropological studies, the idea of Privacy varied in respect of different primitive societies. With the evolution of primitive society to ancient society and then gradually to modern society, the idea of Privacy has been developed to get its present shape. The root of Privacy and its protection is embedded in the history of human civilization, which is characterized specially by transformation of primitive society into modern society. The social transformation has increased both the physical and psychological opportunities for Privacy and also proved to be fruitful for conversion of these opportunities into choices of values in the context of socio-political reality. Social transformation is the responsible factor for changing nature of Privacy as well as the changing character of Privacy violations from primitive societies to modern societies.