Privacy Rights/Limitations - Restrictions/Country exceptions
What are the typical exceptions or limitations placed on this right?
Article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) presents exceptions to the right to privacy. Privacy is granted “except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others” (1950) . The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1996) allow for reasonable, non-arbitrary searches. These exceptions allow privacy to be breached with a court-issued warrant. Most exceptions stem from these documents and it should be noted that the United Nations extended the right to privacy to online spheres (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2013, I§5). Additionally, the European Union implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which prevents the sharing of personal data with outside sources (Wolford, n.d.). The GDPR applies to any companies operating in or with the EU causing it to have international implications (Wolford, n.d.).
References:
European Convention on Human Rights. Council of Europe. Nov. 4, 1950. https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_eng.pdf
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Dec. 16, 1996. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2014, June 30). The right to privacy in the digital age. A/HRC/27/37. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A.HRC.27.37_en.pdf
United States Constitution. 1787. https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm
Universal Declaration on Human Rights. UNGA. Dec. 10, 1948. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
Wolford, B. (n.d.). What is GDPR, the EU’s new data protection law? GDPR EU. Retrieved Sept. 9, 2021, from https://gdpr.eu/what-is-gdpr/