Relinquished Privacy

4. Warren and Brandeis claim, "There are others who, in varying degrees, have renounced the right to live their lives screened from public observation."  Who are these others?  Why do Warren and Brandeis think they have renounced their rights to privacy to some degree?  Do you agree that some people have renounced their right to privacy?  Who are they?  Why?

In this Article regarding Privacy by Warren and Brandeis, they bring up several examples of people who lay outside their regularly defined jurisdiction of privacy. They exclaim that both those in the first class, and those in public office, have relinquished their own rights to privacy. But to put the text into a historical context, the idea of first class and those candidates for public office may have laid in the same plain. Warren and Brandeis explain that the matters of these people have become public as their actions are now of interest to the common population. To put it short, celebrities are those who have relinquished a part of their own privacy. In today's context this is incredibly true, and perhaps involuntarily so. The actions of celebrities are constantly under surveilance of the paparazzi under the idea that the public wants to know every action of their choice of celebrity.

But here is where the Grey area lays. Who are the second rate citizens and when is someone a celebrity? We need to understand the scope of these citizens first to understand who is their desired celebrity. Most commonly at a global scale many used to consider Justin Beiber a celebrity. But let's put this at a smaller scale, who is the celebrity of a small class of 13 year old boys? Wouldn't the popular girl in school count? Under that assumption wouldn't the privacy of this girl be relinquished under Warren and Brandeis's definition? I understand that the actions of those who are popular are under watch, but whether there is a right to these actions may come under fire.

Despite this I do agree to some parts of the argument. Those who are in government must relinquish some part of their own privacy as a servant to those they govern. This statement does not mean that they loose all aspects of their private lives, but they do loose the right to hide their actions which ultimately affect those they govern. We use the term “Transparency” in today's politics to describe this idea. The people have a right to know how their representatives accurately represent them, and we must remember that these positions are jobs themselves and that the people are their ultimate bosses and consumers.