2011 - The right to privacy: its protection and its clarification

Along with the development of new technologies, the awareness of the fact that the right to privacy has become one of the most threatened rights which require special protection is steadily increasing. The question how to protect the right to privacy presupposes, however, a more fundamental question, namely how this right should be understood. The concept of the right to privacy, both in its content and scope, is unclear and shaky, and that for many reasons ? e.g., as a result of a misleading distinction between privacy and public sphere. At the same time, the intuition-based defense of the right to privacy quite frequently fails to provide an attempt at a reflective analysis and clarification of the concept. The special issue planned for September 2011 should, to some degree, fill this gap. It aims at an in-depth and multiperspectival reflection on the right to privacy in different spheres of life, such as scientific research, health care, internet communication, or political activity.