Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
Is privacy an actual RIGHT? I am fairly familiar with the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I don't recall having a right to privacy in general. I would love to be corrected and wrong about that. Anyone with better capability deciphering those documents want to chime in PLEASE prove me wrong.
I am under the impression that my rights to privacy stop at the walls of my dwelling. A judge must get involved before someone is legally allowed to jack-boot my front door and look around INSIDE my dwelling (except for people living in WeAintComingOut, TX of course). Once I am outside my walls and in the public domain, privacy is non-existent.
Under the Constitution privacy is only a "penumbra" right derived from (implied by) mostly the ninth amendment. The right to be left alone basically. It's been criticized as poor legal reasoning but the criticism doesn't prevent its recognition.
In public it all revolves around your reasonable expectation of privacy. And the way various state laws regard that expectation. (I'm not a lawyer btw, but maybe one of the BF members who are attorneys will chime in now that there's a serious question).