Feasibility of Recognizing the Society as Beneficiary of Privacy of Descendants with Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Privacy is one of the prominent rights of individuals in society. Do the deceased have the right to their privacy of personal information like the living? To answer this question, in spite of ethical and jurisprudential prohibition to the violation of deceased person's privacy, it seems since the deceased would lose the capacity to enjoy the right in question after their death, they can rarely be entitled to their right to privacy. Accordingly, when the deceased person has no competence to his/her privacy right, their heirs will not be regarded as their successors, though they can file a lawsuit for the losses related to them caused by the violation of their bequeather's privacy. Given that the two aforementioned options are rejected; It is necessary to examine the society as third alternative. In this regard, the society seems to be considered as the true beneficiary of the deceased person's privacy. This comment is due to the fact that the community incurs losses when the personal information of one of its members is revealed, albeit after his/her death. Thus, this basis is justifiable not only to protect the deceased's personal information, but also to reveal it as being in the public interest.

Keywords

• privacy
• deceased
• information
• society
• death