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The Importance Of Privacy

Decent Essays

Civil Liberties What is the constitutional foundation for the right or privacy? Privacy is not explicitly covered in the United States Constitution. However, as noted by Schultz (2010), the right to privacy is deemed to be among the rights that are guaranteed by the Ninth Amendment. The author notes that privacy can be defined as the information secrecy, physical seclusion, or a principle that guards one against making decisions about fundamental issues. Schultz (2010) also points out that the current constitutional right to privacy protects the freedom of the people from unwarranted and unwanted intrusion by the government in domains such as sexuality, familial relationships, personal information, decisions about death, human reproduction, and personal autonomy. While the constitution does not have the express right to privacy, we have specific aspects of privacy that are reflected by the Bill of Rights (UMKC, n.d.). In this case, therefore, the right of privacy of beliefs has been protected by the 1st Amendment. The 3rd Amendment protects the home privacy against housing of soldiers. The possessions of one are protected against unreasonable searches by the Fourth Amendment (UMKC, n.d.). As for the Fifth Amendment, it protects the privacy rights of individuals relating to personal information and personal property (Kemper, 2014). According to the amendment, an individual does not have to reveal anything about herself or himself that may prove or show guilt in a

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