Free US Law Dictionary

Invasion of Privacy

United States privacy laws embody several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into her private affairs, discloses her private information, publicizes her in a false light, or appropriates her name for personal gain.[1] Public figures have less privacy, and this is an evolving area of law as it relates to the media.

The right to privacy include individuals' Constitutional rights against the government. These includes the Fourth Amendment right to be free of unwarranted search or seizure, the First Amendment right to free assembly, and the Fourteenth amendment due process right, recognized by the Supreme Court as protecting a general right to privacy within family, marriage, motherhood, procreation, and child rearing.[2]