Locating the Value of Information Privacy in a Democratic Society: A Study of the Information Privacy Jurisprudence of Taiwan’s Constitutional Court

NTU Law Review7(1):293~318

26 Pages Posted: 28 Jul 2012

See all articles by Hsiang-Yang Hsieh

Hsiang-Yang Hsieh

Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law

Date Written: April 6, 2012

Abstract

This note reconsiders the relationship between information privacy and democracy, arguing that information privacy deserves constitutional protection because it not only ensures an individual’s personal interests in his or her personal matters, but also promotes public values central to our democratic society. To make this argument, this note identifies three democratic values inherent to information privacy. First, information privacy limits the government’s exercise of power. Second, information privacy secures democracy by providing citizens with certain procedural protections. Third, information privacy secures citizens’ freedoms of thought, speech, and other intellectual activities. This note also explores the information privacy jurisprudence of the Grand Justices of Taiwan’s Judicial Yuan, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court. Taking Taiwan’s experience as an example, this note argues that in order for people to freely think, speak, deliberate, dissent, and participate in the democratic process, their information privacy must be protected. Without information privacy protection, people cannot enjoy a really free and democratic society. Information privacy is thus an important value for a democratic society.

Keywords: Information Privacy, Democracy, Spatial Privacy, Communicative Privacy, Intellectual Privacy

Suggested Citation

Hsieh, Hsiang-Yang, Locating the Value of Information Privacy in a Democratic Society: A Study of the Information Privacy Jurisprudence of Taiwan’s Constitutional Court (April 6, 2012). NTU Law Review7(1):293~318, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2118353

Hsiang-Yang Hsieh (Contact Author)

Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law

Campus Box 1120
St. Louis, MO 63130
United States

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