Privacy has always been a somewhat ephemeral concept. We do not protect privacy as such in the Constitution of the United States. However, the courts see privacy as a penumbra of several constitutional protections. What the courts have done is to create a metaphor between privacy and a solar eclipse. During a total solar eclipse, there is the appearance of a ring of fire seen around the moon. That ring is something that scientists call the penumbra. Therefore, while privacy is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, we can see it as a ring around the Bill of Rights.
Putting aside the question as to whether the courts have gone too far in finding a constitutional right to privacy, most Americans believe that they are entitled to that protection. Perhaps the most alarming case that I have seen in my career on the subject was when a health care worker, employed for some years, was asked to sign a form waiving her rights to privacy concerning her credit history. The employer wanted to snoop into all of its employees’ credit history, regardless of whether they worked in the financial sector of the company. One brave woman refused and was fired. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed that the woman had no right to object to her employer’s demand and she could be fired for refusing to provide the waiver of her confidential financial information.
