Overview of US Privacy Law

One of the current and future hot button legal issues is privacy law.  As technology progresses, how it intertwines with privacy rights is going to be an interesting area.  There are many instances where people knowing and willingly forego certain rights to privacy, like allowing certain apps to track their movements or share certain information with the world.  There are many instances where people give up part of their privacy rights without even knowing it.

There are a host of areas that people in the United States think of as “privacy” rights, some of which are (1) our individual right to choosing to be alone (to not be taped or viewed in private), (2) decisional privacy (right to contraception, access to abortion, right to marry whomever you choose, right to procreate), (3) information privacy (right to not have your information disclosed to third parties), and (4) others. Each of the privacy rights that we hold as individuals may arise from different areas of law including constitutional law, statutory law, agency regulations and even social norms. Read more