Human rights, international law and the right to privacy

The right to privacy is the right to obscure or hide parts of an individual’s life from the view of the wider public. An individual right to privacy is seen as a fundamental human right within the wider context of international law. In the age of surveillance from the state and private Internet communications companies, for an individual to protect their privacy or to remain obscure is now becoming almost impossible. A renewed emphasis on the right to privacy influenced in direct response to the aftermath of the Edward Snowden and Cambridge Analytica revelations. The protection of privacy and the international community must address not only the practices of state sponsored surveillance but also surveillance undertaken by modern private communications companies. This article will focus on how the international community and international law is protecting the privacy of the individual in an increasingly fast-moving area of rights protection and technological advancement.