It protects the inviolate personality, the individual's independence, dignity and integrity. It is a state which can be lost, whether through the choice of the person in that state or through the action of another person. The Calcutt Committee in the UK said that, nowhere have we found a wholly satisfactory statutory definition of privacy. The Preamble to the Australian Privacy Charter provides that, A free and democratic society requires respect for the autonomy of individuals, and limits on the power of both state and private organizations to intrude on that autonomy . . . Privacy is a key value which underpins human dignity and other key values such as freedom of association and freedom of speech. . . .
Privacy is a basic human right and the reasonable expectation of every person.
Privacy has been defined as the quality for being apart from company or observation. It has also been described as freedom from unauthorized intrusion. Privacy can refer to a number of things such as a privacy right of an individual's persona, keeping information sent to others confidential, or concern over how data is collected on individuals and how its it is used.