Privacy and the private realm

Rights have been long understood, first and foremost, as protection of the private from the public, the individual from the state. Typically, early explorations of the right to privacy concerned the protection of diaries and protection of the home from quartering soldiers. True, over the ages we also came to recognize positive rights (such as socioeconomic rights) and the government's duty to protect citizens from violations of rights by other actors besides the state. However, when violations of privacy are discussed, the first violator that typically comes to mind is “Big Brother” – that is, the state. This article focuses on the growing threat to privacy from private actors, especially profit-making corporations.