Privacy and cultural relativism:
research examples of how expectations of privacy vary among different cultures,
subcultures, or in different historical periods and discuss the moral or
legal implications of these variations. You might research privacy protections
in other countries--for example, is aerial surveillance, search of garbage
or open fields, drug testing permitted?-- and consider why privacy rights
might vary, or whether they should.
All states have some form of
sunshine law, that requires government or government-funded bodies to conduct
meetings in open. Florida has among the most stringent of sunshine laws.
What are the reasons for these laws, and what are the costs? Are they effective?
A related topic is whether jury deliberations should remain private--see
Barbara Babcock's editorial in the New York Times of July 24, 2002, 'Preserving
the Jury's Privacy'. Yet another related issue can be found in Bd. of County
Comm'rs v. D.B., 784 So. 2d 585 (2001), a case in which an adult entertainer
challenged the constitutionality of a Palm Beach County ordinance requiring
her to get an identification card disclosing her name, date of birth, photograph
and other personal information, to ensure she is not underage; she claimed
that this violates her right to privacy given that Florida's Public Records
Act would provide open access to this information.
Privacy and public opinion:
find out what survey research has been undertaken regarding expectations
of privacy and discuss critically what bearing survey results should have
in determining whether expectations of privacy are reasonable.
Privacy and new technologies
of surveillance: find examples of new technologies of surveillance and
discuss the moral or legal implications of their use. For example, you
can consider the implications of keeping records of everyone's DNA on file.You
could consider new technologies of communication or information acquisition
and storage and discuss to what extent privacy in those communications,
or in stored information, should be protected (eg privacy on the internet,
privacy in email).
Privacy and original intent
theories: research what the framers of the 4th and 14th amendments had
in mind regarding the scope of 4th Amendment protections and discuss what
bearing this research should have when the Supreme Court currently adjudicates
4th Amendment challenges.
Privacy and minors: to what
extent do children have privacy rights? You might conduct a critical analysis
of case law, or consider survey research regarding childrens' expectations
of privacy, or consider philosophical discussions of the extent to which
children's rights are or should be limited. You might focus on a specific
type of search, for example, dog sniffs of students' bags, purses, jackets,
persons. See, for example, the New York Times article by Tamar Lewin on
July 26, 2002 on drug dog sniffs of 6-year-olds in kindergarten.
Related to privacy and minors
is the issue of whether drug testing of students without probable cause
is permissible. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, recently upheld
drug testing of all students who participate in competetive extracurricular
activities--see Board of Education of Independent School Dist. No. 92 of
Pottawatomie Cty. v Earls (June 27, 2002).
Philosophical analysis of the
problem of how we determine the scope of reasonable expectations of privacy:
you might attempt to formulate a (set of) principle(s) or rule(s) that
would distinguish when an expectation of privacy is or isn't reasonable,
and defend it against alternatives.
The 4th Amendment and state
action: the 4th Amendment protects privacy rights only against government
intrusions, and does not protect us against private searches. Does the
4th Amendment protect us from searches by private security guards? What
if a police officer enlists the support of a private party to conduct a
search? Consider a NYT article of 9\24\94, p. A5, about a doctor who is
being charged with child pornography, apparently based on evidence of film
he was picking up at a local photo shop: if the film developer volunteered
the photos to the police should it be admissible? Should it matter if the
police asked the film developer to keep his eye open for such photos? How
do we draw the line between private and government searches in this and
similar circumstances?
Privacy and civil law: what
protections do we and should we have against private searches in which
government is not involved? You might focus on a particular example. For
example, is there a reasonable expectation of privacy in the film one leaves
at the developer? What protection do tenants have against intrusions by
landlords? What remedies are and should be available?
Privacy and the homeless: do
(and should) homeless people have reasonable expectations of privacy in
the contents of their boxes, shopping carts, duffel bags and so forth,
even though these are left in public areas? You might research new case
law in this area and discuss critically, or present a philosophical analysis
in which you set out the scope of privacy rights you think the homeless
have, and defend your analysis.
The Dale Earnhardt issue: should
autopsy and similar photos be kept from the public despite the press's
1st Amendment rights, for the sake of privacy? On Earnhardt, see CNN
Sports Illustrated's webpage ; on the issue as it arises in another
context, see Stephen Kinzer, "In Cincinatti, Art Bows to the Privacy of
Death," New York Times, August 3, 2002, available online by searching news/general
news at lexis-nexis.
A number of Supreme Court cases deal with the conflict between privacy
and First Amendment Rights, e.g. Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524 (can
media be prohibited from naming a rape victim), and Bartnicki v Vopper,
532 U.S. 514 (2000).
Analysis of a specific sort
of government search: you might focus on searches of garbage, aerial surveillance,
FLIR devices, drug tests, dog sniffs, searches of prisoners, open field
searches, etc.