The first definition of privacy was given by Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis in their famous article "The Right to Privacy", which appeared in the Harvard Law Review [Warren/Brandeis 1890]. The two American lawyers defined privacy as "the right to be alone". The reason for this publication was the development of new forms of technologies that was coupled with other developments. Photography used by the yellow press was in the view of the authors an attack on personal privacy in the sense of the right to be alone.
The most common definition of privacy in current use is the one by Alan Westin:
‘Privacy is the claim of individuals, groups and institutions to determine for themselves, when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others’ [Westin 1967].
According to Westin´s definition, natural (individuals) as well as legal persons (groups and institutions) have a right to privacy. In some countries, like France, Austria, Denmark, the juridical concept of privacy protection is extended to groups and institutions, whereas in most others, like in Germany, the USA or the U.K., it is restricted to individuals.
In general, the concept of privacy can be given three aspects [Rosenberg 1992]; [Holvast 1993]:
· Territorial privacy (by protecting the close physical area surrounding a person, i.e. domestic and other environments such as the workplace or public space);
· Privacy of the person (by protecting a person against undue interference, such as physical searches, drug testing or information violating his/her moral sense); and
· Informational privacy (by controlling whether and how personal data can be gathered, stored, processed or selectively disseminated).
Personal data means any information concerning the personal or material circumstances of an identified or identifiable person (the data subject). The emphasis of this Chapter and of this thesis is on the discussion of informational privacy of individuals. Individual informational privacy has also been defined by the German Constitutional Court in its Census Decision of 1983 as the term right of informational self-determination, meaning the right of an individual to determine the disclosure and use of his personal data on principle at his discretion.
Data protection is the protection of personal data in order to guarantee privacy and is only a part of the concept of privacy. Privacy, however, is not an unlimited or absolute right, as it can be in conflict with other rights or legal values, and because individuals cannot participate fully in society without revealing personal data. Privacy and Data Protection laws shall help to protect privacy rights, if personal data is collected, stored or processed.