3. A Legal Right

‘A legal right’ looks at the beginnings of the legal recognition of privacy and the development of the common law from the protection of the physical person to the protection of the individual's privacy. The right to privacy is now a human right recognized under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and under the European Convention on Human Rights. The problems of reconciling privacy with other rights, especially freedom of expression, are examined in the context of media intrusion. The impact on privacy of the use of surveillance to combat terrorism is considered, as are the measures introduced in the wake of the attacks of September 11 2001.