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Article: Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, andSecurity
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues
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JUDSON KNIGHT
Among the foundational principles of the Western liberal tradition that binds the American political system is the belief that the rights of the individual, wherever possible, must be preserved against the authority of the state. Emanating from that principle is the implication that individuals have a right to privacy, a right implied
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as noted by several distinguished Supreme Court justices over time
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in the U.S. Constitution. Balancing and sometimes apparently contradicting this right to privacy is the need for security on a national and sometimes a local level. This conflict of needs and aims has given rise ...