Privacy Protects Bothersome People (2013)
<i>privacy is a fundamental right</i><p>The problem here is that there's no such thing as a "fundamental right". All we have is government and our legal framework; nothing about what we can or can't do exists outside of that[1]. Philosophers have looked at this many times[2], and none have managed to come up with a satisfactory definition of 'rights' that works. Consequently all we have to work with when it comes to saying what we can do, what we have the 'right' to do, and perhaps more importantly what the government can do, is the law. Really, the problem is that governments are tasked with limiting their own power over us; surrendering power is something that very few people are good at.<p>[1] There's morals and ethics, but that's what you <i>should</i> do rather than what you <i>can</i> do.<p>[2] If you're interested, I highly recommend reading about Jeremy Bentham who wrote about the topic more than 200 years ago: <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/#SH5b" rel="nofollow">http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/#SH5b</a>