Hariharan, Jeevan Chandran; (2023) The Protection of Physical Privacy under English Law. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Privacy is a hotly contested area at present: spurred by the rise of ‘Big Tech’, policy makers are confronting how to protect our privacy in an increasingly digitalised society. Yet, in both everyday discourse and in our legal system, privacy is primarily understood through the lens of data and information. This thesis seeks to challenge the dominant information-centric approach to privacy. I argue that in addition to our informational privacy, there is another important and distinct aspect of privacy – our physical privacy – which is implicated when we are observed or listened to without our authorisation. Understanding physical privacy is crucial because it helps us to make better sense of the harms that are perpetuated using modern technologies and the ways in which the law should respond. Taken as a whole, the function of this thesis is to provide a critical analysis of the protection of physical privacy in English law. In order to achieve this, the thesis seeks to fulfil three interlinked purposes. The first purpose is to understand the nature of physical privacy, and explain how it differs from informational privacy. The second purpose is to analyse how English law currently protects us against interferences with our physical privacy. The third and final purpose is to explore how the law can better protect our physical privacy. The key to understanding physical privacy and how it should be protected, it is argued, is to appreciate the link between physical privacy and our bodies. Physical privacy is an aspect of our fundamental interest in bodily integrity. This explains its distinctness from informational privacy and its significance in our daily lives. And it also points English law in a new and fascinating direction, that courts should protect physical privacy by developing the tort of battery, not misuse of private information.

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