Reviewing Privacy in an Information Society*
REVIEWING PRIVACY IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY* SPIROS SIMITISt I. THE QUEST FOR A CONCEPT Privacy is an old and venerable subject.1 Generations of lawyers, judges, and legal scholars have explored its different aspects. The num- ber of cases is countless, the list of statutes long and impressive.2 Yet, * Originally delivered as the second Thomas Jefferson Lecture at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on October 28, 1985. The University of Pennsylvania Law Review would like to thank Hermann Knott and Franz Tepper, 1987 LL.M. candidates at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, for reviewing most of the German language material cited in this article. t Professor of Civil and Labor Law, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitit, Frankfurt am Main; Data Protection Commissioner, State of Hesse, Federal Republic of Germany. 1 See, e.g., Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) (identifying zones of individual privacy guaranteed by the United States Constitution); Millar v. Taylor, 98 Eng. Rep. 201, 242 (K.B. 1769) ("It is certain every man has a right to keep his own sentiments, if he pleases: he has certainly a right to judge whether he will make them public, or commit them only to the sight of his friends."); B. MOORE, PRIVACY: STUD- IES IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY (1984) (examining the concepts of public and private in various societies including 4th century B.C. Athens, ancient Hebrew society as reflected in the Old Testament, and ancient China at the age of the "hundred philos- ophers," 551 B.C. to 233 B.C.). See generally Warren & Brandeis, The Right to Pri- vacy, 4 HARV.
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