Before understanding data privacy, first, it is required to elucidate what privacy as a concept is and what sort of importance it holds under the law. Privacy which is not a new development, roots back to 1604 in the Semayne case[i], where it was recognised that “the house of everyone is to them as their castle and fortress.” In general, it means that you cannot enter someone’s home unannounced and break open the door without a warrant or notice, as that would be a violation of one’s territorial privacy. Essentially, the law on trespass is also based on the essence of privacy. In further development, Justice Louis Brandeis and Boston attorney Samuel Warren propounded the term “right to privacy” in 1890, arguing that the protection of private space is a basis of contemporary individual freedom and that the law should recognise this right and impose punishment for any intrusions on it.[ii]This ideology till date exists in various data privacy legislations championing the cause of data protection all over the world. Data privacy is the branch of data management that deals with handling personal data in compliance with data protection laws, regulations, and general privacy best practices.
[i] Peter Semayne v Richard Gresham [2006] 77 ER 194
[ii] Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, ‘The Right to Privacy’, Harvard Law Review Vol. IV No. 5.
