| Description |
Americans value a "right to privacy" even though that right is not spelled out in the Constitution, and only loosely defined in a patchwork of federal and state laws. Much of our understanding of privacy is rooted in the Fourth Amendment, but when the First Congress wrote the Fourth Amendment, no one could have foreseen the complications that new technologies - particularly visual technologies - would bring about. In 1890, Boston law partners Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis wrote a position paper "The Right to Privacy" as a reaction to a new technology: newspaper photography. The paper continues to shape legal thought on the topic. But, imaging technologies continue to advance and outpace the ability of the law to regulate the privacy implications that arise. This thesis examines the development of privacy thought as it relates to visual images, examines the privacy implications of visual technologies in the early 21st century, and examines these technologies through visual means. |
