Privacy from government interference

As a human right, privacy primarily relates to government actions, not private actions. Human rights guarantees do not impose broad obligations on governments to protect individuals against possible invasions of their privacy by other individuals. However Constitutional and international guarantees require that restrictions on freedom of expression, even in the interests of privacy, must meet a very high standard of legality and necessity. Governments in many countries are given powers to breach privacy. This is often the case in criminal investigations, where police are permitted to search for and seize private property from places where they would otherwise be prohibited from entering without probable cause to do so. Telephone tapping, where all information being transmitted over a phone line is secretly monitored, is often permissible for Law Enforcement Agencies, although it usually requires permission from a court. This can then be used as evidence in trials where it is used to secure convictions against criminals. However, in the past, numerous cases have been overturned in the United States because the wiretap was not legally allowed. Other ways to monitor individuals or conduct mass surveillance include closed-circuit television cameras, which are placed in public and forward looking infrared cameras which are mounted on police helicopters.

The desirability of the government monitoring communications, whether permitted by law or not, is a common debate. Organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation argue that the right to privacy from the government is an inalienable human right and that it is up to the person whether they should have to disclose information. Other groups, including government agencies like the National Security Agency, maintain that the ability to monitor all communications aids in the prevention of criminal activity and terrorism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy