seems to be that these state precisely why privacy is valued and why it
should be understood as a right.
In my view, none of these three types of critique can genuinely invalidate
the normative nexus between freedom and privacy. Accordingly, I regard
conceptions of privacy based upon a notion of individual freedom as pro-
viding the most interesting and forward-looking possibilities for the term:
I argue that theories of privacy are always at the same time theories about the
protection of individual liberty. In this context, it is possible to distinguish
various dimensions of privacy, each of which realizes and facilitates distinct
aspects of individual freedom, and is thus also characterized by a distinct
potential for conXict with other rights or values.
4 Three Dimensions of Privacy
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
Three such dimensions of privacy should be distinguished. These dimen-
sions—not realms—of privacy serve, or from a normative viewpoint should
serve, to protect, facilitate, and eVectuate individual liberties in a variety of
respects. We saw above that freedom-oriented theories of privacy are to be
found within the whole range of theories of privacy, from those that deal with
the privacy of (intimate) actions to those concerned with informational
privacy or the privacy of the household. It makes sense, therefore, to discuss
these diVerent aspects of freedom and privacy separately.
4.1 Decisional Privacy
It is only in recent years that decisional privacy, or the privacy of actions, has
become a specialist term in the literature. A decisive factor here was the ruling
of the US Supreme Court in theRoe v. Wadecase, where for theWrst time
in US legal history women were granted a right to physical, sexual self-
determination and to terminate a pregnancy, this being grounded upon an
appeal to aright to privacy. As the explanation formulated by Justice Blackmun
famously put it, ‘‘this right to privacy... is broad enough to encompass a
702 beate roessler