Privacy and Human Rights 2003

"There is no explicit right to privacy in the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court has ruled that there is a limited constitutional right of privacy based on several provisions in the Bill of Rights. This includes a right to privacy from government surveillance into an area where a person has a "reasonable expectation of privacy"[2809] and also in matters relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing and education.[2810] Some states within the country have incorporated explicit privacy protections into their state constitutions.[2811]
However, the United States has taken a sectoral approach to privacy regulation so that records held by third parties, such as consumer marketing profiles or telephone calling records, are generally not protected unless a legislature has enacted a specific law.[2812] The Court has also recognized a right of anonymity[2813] and the right of political groups to prevent disclosure of their members' names to government agencies.[2814]"

Points out how commercialized privacy has become.


www.privacyinternational.org...

Tough topic.

Great reference site.

Another example of commercialization of privacy: where I spend a bit of time, it costs you more to have your number unlisted in the telephone directory than to have it listed.

I've been looking over Canada and it isn't pretty. the US is probably worse but notice how since 9/11 every year or so a law is put through that magically contains provisions from other previous struck down/amended laws. But it looks like Canadians are good at raising a ruckus over personal rights. God Bless 'em.

edit - Jesus H. Christ: In regards to CCRA database: "In response to the criticism, the CCRA decided to change the database in March 2003 to reflect the criticisms. This was a big victory for privacy advocates.[854] Changes to the database include purging information not required for customs purposes, such as what people order to eat and health information."

[Edited on 10-9-2003 by ktprktpr]