Privacy
The right to privacy is one of the most complex rights, balancing the individual interest in privacy with various public interests, including the right to freedom of expression and freedom of information. However, the fast pace of technological change has meant that personal privacy has come under increasing pressure, whether from state surveillance, data-gathering by public authorities and private companies or unjustified encroachment by the media.
JUSTICE has long campaigned for improvements to the law protecting privacy in the UK. In 1970 we published Privacy and the Law, arguing for the need for data protection laws. The first Data Protection Act was passed in 1984. More recently we argued for covert policing to be put on a statutory footing and have been active in arguing against ID cards and the unnecessary retention of DNA profiles.