Privacy and Freedom
Privacy and Freedom
Spring 3-1-1968
Recommended Citation
Alan F. Westin, Privacy And Freedom, 25 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 166 (1968).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol25/iss1/20
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BOOK NOTES
PRIVACY AND FREEDOM. By Alan F. Westin. New York:
Athenum. 1967. Pp. xvi, 487. $1o.oo.
Alan Westin's Privacy and Freedom is a detailed and compre-
hensive evaluation of the conflict between privacy and surveillance in
modern society. The book was written under the auspices of the
Special Committee on Science and Law of the Association of the Bar
of the City of New York, with financial support from the Carnegie
Corporation, and will undoubtedly stand as a major reference work
on the subject.
The book is organized into four parts: (1) the function of privacy
in society; (2) a description of the advances in surveillance technology;
(3) the response of American society to the introduction of these new
techniques; and (4) an evaluation of the past and future role of
American law in this area. In the first of these parts, the author estab-
lishes the social value of privacy, an approach notably absent from
other works on surveillance. Privacy, he contends, provides individuals
and groups in society with a preservation of autonomy, a release from
role-playing, a time for self-evaluation and for protected communica-
tion.
Since World War II advancement in electronic spying devices has
presented increasing threats to privacy in society. Mr. Westin attributes
this increase in surveillance to the general low cost and ease with
which electronic devices may be obtained. An additional factor is the
change in social mores, evidenced by individual willingness to divulge
more information on living habits and a general element of curiosity
present in all societies, reflected by popular demand for intimate
details of the lives of public figures. Mr. Westin, however, does not
limit the concept of surveillance to physical observation, wiretapping,
or eavesdropping. He includes psychological surveillance (use of per-
sonality testing and lie detectors as a means of personnel selection)
and data surveillance (central collection of information on individuals
in computer banks).
The author contends that American law is beginning to respond
to this increase in surveillance by offering greater protection of privacy.
For example, he feels the Supreme Court is moving toward the protec-
tion of privacy as a constitutional right under the fourth amendment.
In Berger v. New York,' a case decided after the book had gone to
1 8
38 U.S. 41 (1967).
1968] BOOK NOTES 167
press, the Court did use the fourth amendment to invalidate a New
York eavesdropping law. However, Mr. Westin believes that there is
a need for legislation to safeguard this right. He advocates a balanced
position, generally prohibiting surveillance but allowing limited use
in cases of national security and major crimes. This recognition of
the demands for limited surveillance by law enforcement officials is
only one of many instances throughout the book of Mr. Westin's
realistic and objective appraisal of public attitudes and trends in
the law.
ROBERT L. BLAND