The Right to Privacy via Electronic Transmissions Essay

The founding fathers of the United States of America fought hard to achieve an independent nation. An independent nation containing freedoms and rights for citizens that only the constitution can guarantee. One of the crucial rights guaranteed to U.S citizens today is the right to privacy, or the right to be left alone according to Brandeis and Warren. The right to privacy is not specifically mentioned in the constitution, it is however mentioned in the bill of rights. The bill of rights is the first ten amendments of the constitution, which protects many civil rights and liberties of all U.S citizens. The debate today is whether the constitution protects the privacy of citizens from being regulated and invaded by federalism.

While there is no “right to privacy” explicitly mentioned in the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court believes that several of the Amendments embody this right; specifically the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments [6]. The First Amendment protects the privacy of one’s beliefs [6]. The Third Amendment protects the privacy of the home against it being forcibly used to house soldiers [6]. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches [6]. The Fifth Amendment protects the privacy of personal information [6]. The Fourteenth Amendment provides for a right to liberty in the areas of family, marriage, motherhood, procreation, and child rearing [6]. And lastly the Ninth Amendment is a “catch-all,” declaring that just because a

The first amendment allows the person privacy of beliefs, the fifth amendment give the person privacy of personal information and other amendments gives the person the right of privacy. Some people still argue that Americans doesn’t have the right of privacy. The supreme court, however, recognized that the 14th amendment gives the person privacy in different subjects. After that the court stated that the person has the right for privacy and the person makes his own decision. This source is useful as it supports the idea that americans has the right for privacy. This source is a reliable source as it is published on laws which is a website for publishing articles especially political ones. I think other sources were more helpful as they specified the advantages and the disadvantages of the americans privacy. I can use this source to prove that the right to privacy was one of the amendments in the Bill of

James Madison and the other framers of the Constitution all had a specific goal in mind when they drafted the Bill of Rights: to protect the inalienable rights of the citizens of the United States. The framers outlined their vision with the first few amendments of the Bill of Rights and ensured that citizens would have the privacy of their beliefs, their home, their possessions, and their person. If the framers did not include the Fourth Amendment none of the other amendments would be relevant without the right to personal privacy.

The US Constitution does not explicitly describe the right to privacy. The right to privacy is only implied. American citizens have a right to privacy which is outlined in the Bill of Rights’ amendments one, three, four, nine and amendment fourteen of the Constitution. One’s privacy of personal beliefs are protected by amendment one. Amendment three protects the privacy of one’s home. Privacy of possessions area protected through amendment four. Amendment nine is most often used as a general protection of privacy while the liberty clause of the fourteenth amendment also protects privacy also. Supreme Court has acknowledged the right to privacy in many cases.

Privacy is what allows people to feel secure in their surroundings. With privacy, one is allowed to withhold or distribute the information they want by choice, but the ability to have that choice is being violated in today’s society. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who sacrifices freedom or liberty will eventually have neither.” And that’s the unfortunate truth that is and has occurred in recent years. Privacy, especially in such a fast paced moving world, is extremely vital yet is extremely violated, as recently discovered the NSA has been spying on U.S. citizens for quite a while now; based on the Fourth Amendment, the risk of leaked and distorted individual information, as well as vulnerability to lack of anonymity.

"There is no explicit mention of privacy in the United States Constitution. But the courts have found a constitutional basis for privacy rights in the broad sense of freedom from interference in certain intimate realms of personal life. This is based on the protection of individual liberty from government interference in the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution. 3 The First Amendment protection of the freedoms of speech, assembly, religious practice, and so on, could also be seen as privacy protection in this sense. On the other hand, the right to free speech could be used to defend someone who invaded the privacy of others by publishing or disclosing their personal information.

• The right to privacy is protected by the U.S. Constitution. (The right to be let alone and free from unwarranted governmental intrusion.)

In 1787, the constitution was born. The constitution has been America’s guideline to the American way of life. Our US constitution has many points in it to protect America and it’s people from an overpowered government, our economy, and ourselves. The only thing the constitution doesn’t directly give us, is our right to privacy, and our right to privacy has been a big concern lately courtesy of the National Security Agency (NSA).(#7) Although our constitution doesn’t necessarily cover the privacy topic, it does suggest that privacy is a given right. Some people say that the right to privacy was so obvious, that our founding fathers didn’t even feel the need to make a point about it.(#9) It also didn’t help

This statement implies that there are certain rights out there that are not specifically spelled out in the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has used this amendment by saying that the right to privacy fits in here. Finally the 3 Fourteenth Amendment which gives notion that every citizen has the right to due process. Also, the Fourteenth Amendment states, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…” (Constitution of the U.S). The right to privacy is implied in the Constitution in a number of different amendments.

The United States Constitution, Fourth Amendment provides "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated... " Privacy rights are triggered under the Fourth Amendment:

Digital privacy concerns, which have been a major issue in our country since 2001, increasingly violate our basic human rights as global citizens. The growing amount of government surveillance has manifested in the enactment of acts such as SOPA and CISPA. Although their intent on stopping digital piracy and attacks were clear, both were immediately met with harsh criticism; they allowed big corporations to violate our privacy rights by sharing our personal information with both other companies and the government. Our President, although publicly expressing his acknowledgement of the issue, failed to discuss an array of other pressing dilemmas regulated by the recently exposed National Security Agency (NSA), especially those involving

From the days the constitution was signed and the solidification of the bill of rights, one can see that there were many core values that our forefathers wanted to promise every American citizen. Under the bill of rights, lie the ten amendments, which express the need for civil rights and personal freedom. However, as the era marches progressively into the technological age, the need to uphold these rights, especially those pertaining to personal privacy has become a popular topic of discussion on social media and Internet forums, namely the privacy of Americans.

The right to privacy was not established as a constitutional doctrine until after the result of the Supreme Court ruling in the 1965 case of Griswold vs. Connecticut. The court decision was based on the interpretation of several amendments within the Bill of Rights. Although the Bill of Rights does not explicitly state anything about the right to privacy, a combination of its sections was used as the framework for establishing the right (“Griswold v. Connecticut (1965),” 2007).

According to The Framers Constitution (Stone, 2011) “The Framers understood that they were entrusting to future generations the responsibility to draw upon their intelligence, judgment, and experience to give concrete meaning to these broad principles over time.” I believe while a right to privacy may not be in writing in the Constitution itself, that it is indeed directly implied that we the people of the United States of America do have a right to privacy. Individual liberty is after all, what the Framers fought so hard to achieve. Also, the Bill Of Rights was created to protect the people from the government, not the other way around.