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Increasingly, the government and the news media are intruding into the personallives
ofprivate citizens. Tacit acceptance by an apathetic public of illegal and unethical
surveillance practices is pushing us ever closer to the nightmare world of 19841
BigBrother
ls
WatchingYou:
THEASSAULTON P ACY!
ou had to live in
the assumption
that every sound you
made was overheard,
and, except in dark–
ness, every movement
tinized."
That is the frightening world of
George Orwell's
1984-a
world
where two-way "telescreens" and un–
remitting surveillance make solitude
an impossibility, privacy a punisb–
able crime. It is the government of
"Big Brother," a government that
pries into all aspects of citizens '
lives.
lt
is also a world whicb Iies nearer
at hand than most of us would like to
admit.
lt
is a world which many well–
meaning people are unwittingly belp–
ing to usher in.
Our lives today are increasingly
becoming an open book. No one lives
a truly prívate life anymore. We are
being watcbed, scrutinized, exam–
ined. We live in a goldfish bowl. We
are citizens of tbe "naked society."
A surprising amount of what we
do or say in public- and often in
private- is gathered, summarized,
evaluated, codified, t r ansferred,
combined and filed away by number.
The erosion of personal privacy has
become a hallmark of our computer–
ized, technologically sopbisticated
age. l ndeed, the right to privacy now
stands in greater jeopardy than at
any time in the history of mankind!
What emerges, upon investigation,
is a chilling piéture of a democracy
being eaten away by the unrestrained
16
by
Stanley R. Rader
and
Keith W. Stump
use of intrusive technology, a democ–
racy being undermined by govern–
mental and private institutions left to
their own devices through the apathy
of the citizenry. The implications are
frightening.
This erosion of privacy can be
traced to the workings of two main
power centers: government and the
news media.
The Right to
Privacy
Privacy is customarily defined as the
right of an individual to withhold
himself and his property from public
scrutiny if he so chooses.
lt
has often
been noted, however, that the "right
to privacy" is not specifically men–
tioned in the U.S. Constitution; in–
deed, the word "privacy" itself never
appears.
Most legal authorities nevertbeless
regard the rigbt to privacy as unques–
tionably inherent in the Bill of Rights.
The lateSupreme Court Justice Louis
Brandeis recognized this in his dis–
senting opinion in
0/mstead vs. U.S.
(1928): "The makers of our constitu–
tion sought to protect Americans in
their beliefs, their thoughts, their emo–
tions and their sensations. They con–
ferred, as against the government, the
right to be left alone- tbe most com–
prehensive of rights and the right most
valued bycivilized men."
Tbe main protection for privacy in
the Constitution is the Fourth
Amendment, which asserts that "the
right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and ef–
fects, against unreasonable searches
and seizures, shall not be vio–
lated...." The Fiftb Amendment is
also pertinent, stating in part that
"no person shall be . .. deprived of
life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor shall prívate prop–
erty be taken for public use without
just compensation."
Moreover, the Supreme Court has
acted to strengthen the concept of
privacy, holdi ng in
Boyd vs. U.S.
that
the doctrines of the Fourth and Fifth
Amendments "apply to all invasions
on the part of the government and its
employes of the sanctity of a man's
borne and the privacies of life...."
Many states have also enacted priva–
cy laws. The state constitution of
California, for example, specifies the
"inalienable right" to privacy.
The framers of the U.S. Constitu–
tion well remembered tbe infamous
Britisb "writs of assistance"- gener–
al warrants authorizing wide-ranging
searches. It was not uncommon for
officials of the British Crown to burst
unannounced into colonial bornes
and businesses, arresting the occu–
pants and seizing property.
Nevertbeless, that ..most valued"
right of privacy which the Founding
Fathers built into the Constitution is
now being increasingly trampled
upon, pushing us ever closer to the
brink of Orwell's " Big Brother"
world of
1984.
Few realize the ex–
treme gravity of the situation. Let us
briefty examine the many ways by
which government and tbe news me–
dia are undermining this most basic
of rights- the right to privacy.
" This ls Your Life!"
How would you react were Congress
to announce that it was considering a
The PLAIN TRUTH May 1979