Privacy, Speech, and the Law

Abstract

Part I will provide an overview of the moral foundations of privacy — while brief, the goal is to establish the claim that privacy more than a mere interest. Part II will consider several arguments — or strands of argument — purporting to justify free speech rights. While these arguments, taken together, establish that free speech is important, they do not support the view that speech should nearly always trump privacy. In Part III I will suggest a way to balance free speech and privacy claims in the law.