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What is the right of privacy, and what is the basis for protecting personal
privacy under the law? Are current standards sufficient to protect privacy?
If you are not familiar with legal requirements in your own jurisdiction, you
may refer to legal and ethical practices in a culture or jurisdiction with which
you are familiar.
Include relevant information--facts and/or opinions--from expert sources to
support selections. Citations and references must be written in Harvard style
of citation. Your paper should be approximately 850-1000 words not counting
title page and references.
Please use the "Turnitin" link below to submit your assignment
Right of Privacy and the Law
The right of privacy is the human right to privacy. These rights have form the
basis of various privacy laws and are an element of what is permissible
legally which binds an individual, the government and private institutions
from intimidating any individual or institution or threatening an individual
right to privacy.
These rights have been known to give power to the citizens for the
protection of their rights and also have improved immensely transparency of
government and private bodies or individuals that hold and wield power in
the society.
"The right to privacy is a person's right to be left alone by the
government... the right most valued by civilized men."
- Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
The above statement indicates that the right of privacy is a right that has
been most cherished by all and this right is recognized in International
Human Right Treaties and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
others even thou it was in a broader concept.
Human dignity and autonomy provides a basis as the core values for the
protection of fundamental human rights and privacy under the Nigerian
constitution.
The Human dignity basis seeks to protect the personality of all Nigerian
citizens irrespective of post and position held in the society while the
autonomy basis seeks to protect the independence of all Nigerian citizens
which allows an individual to lead their life without interference from anyone
in the society
Privacy is a legal term that up till date the concept of privacy has proven
difficult to define as it is better described than defined. This has given rise to
so many creditable definitions with the intent of giving an insight into the
concept of privacy.
One such definition is given by an Israelis Law school which define privacy of
rights as an independent right that deserves legal protection in itself
because it is our fundamental right to keep a dominion over all things that
form an integral part of us such as our body, property, thoughts, feelings,
secrets and our identity.
Another definition on privacy is given as The right of the individual to be
protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs, or those of his
family, by direct physical means or by publication of information.
These privacy rights empower us with the ability to dictate who has accessed
to what part of our domain, the extent of the access given, in what manner
will the information or data be given and at what time it is appropriate to use
whatever parts of our domain that we might have disclosed (Wikileaks, 2002)
The rights as recognized by the Nigerian constitution are captured under the
fundamental rights (Nigerian Constitution, 1999, Chapter 2) and fundamental
objectives and directive principles of state policy (Nigerian Constitution,
1999, Chapter 4)
The fundamental rights of Nigeria citizen are as stated as the Right to life;
Right to dignity of human persons; Right to personal liberty; Right to fair
hearing; Right to private and family life; Right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion; Right to freedom of expression and the press; Right
to peaceful assembly and association; Right to freedom of movement; Right
to freedom from discrimination; Right to acquire and own immovable
property; Compulsory acquisition of property; Restriction on and derogation
from fundamental human rights; Special jurisdiction of High Court and Legal
aid.
The Nigerian Constitution also recognized the right to privacy as mentioned
in Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as
The privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone
conversations, and telegraphic communications is guaranteed and
protected.
References
http://www.nigerianlawtoday.com/2013/02/redefining-frontiers-of-rightto.html
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/technology/internet/privacy/
privacy-law.html
http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm
Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) [Online] Available from:
http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm
(Accessed: 23 May 2015)