Definition
Privacy (Ro: viață privată, Fr: vie privée, Sp: privacidad/vida privada, Gr: ιδιωτικότητα/ιδιωτική ζωή) (see also: the right to privacy): the ability of an individual or individuals to have control over their personal information, to seclude themselves or the information that concerns them, by setting boundaries and limit the access of other parties to their private life. Even though this concept lacks a proper generally accepted legal definition, in case-law it has often been identified as any of the following: (i) confidentiality, (ii) secrecy, (iii) intimacy, (iv) right to be let alone/right to be left alone, (v) personhood, (vi) control of the personal information or (vii) limited access to the self.
The right to privacy has been understood as the right to be let alone ever since the nineteenth century, later being defined as any withholding or concealment of information. Throughout the past century, the relevance of the concept of privacy and right to privacy has been acknowledged in international and national legislations.
Useful links:
Legislation
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 12 [English]
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx - The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 17(1) [English]
https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_RON.pdf - The European Convention on Human Rights, article 8 [Romanian]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, article 7 and 8(1) [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679 – Regulation (EU) 679/2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31995L0046 – Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, (no longer in force)
https://www.dataprotection.ro/servlet/ViewDocument?id=35 – Legea nr. 677/2001 pentru protecția persoanelor cu privire la prelucrarea datelor cu caracter personal și libera circulație a acestor date / Law no. 677/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, (no longer in force)
Case law
http://faculty.uml.edu/sgallagher/pavesich_v.htm - Supreme Court of Georgia, United States of America, decision from the 3rd of March 1905 [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62012CJ0131 – The European Court of Justice, Judgement of 14 May 2014, Google Spain, C-131/12, EU:C:2014:317 [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1544996858587&uri=CELEX:62001CJ0101 - The European Court of Justice, Judgement of 6 November 2003, Lindqvist, C-101/01, EU:C:2003:596 [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1544996932323&uri=CELEX:62014CJ0362 - The European Court of Justice, Judgment of 6 October 2015, Schrems, C-362/14, EU:C:2015:650 [English]
Publications
Posner, R.A., The Right to Privacy, in Georgia Law Review”, vol. 12, no. 3, 1978
Warren S.D., Brandeis L.D., Right to Privacy, in Harvard Law Review, vol. 4 no. 5, 1890,
Practical use
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en - Data Protection (The European Commission)
https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/news-overview.cfm - Article 29 Working Party