Privacy as Liberty and Security: Implications for the Legitimacy of Governmental Surveillance

Abstract

Privacy is implicated whenever surveillance policies and practices are implemented. In liberal democracies, the onus rests upon those using surveillance, especially governments, to justify incursions on individual privacy. A prominent argument for justifying governmental surveillance is collective security. Security concerns about criminality have seen police use surveillance, including phone-tapping. National security concerns have seen larger-scale surveillance, including metadata collection. Medical security is a growing concern raised to support surveillance, including cellular monitoring of individuals’ movements.