Yet another argument over privacy has hopefully been put to rest in the US. One would think that after it became known that the Virginia Tech massacres occured precisely because of “information silos”, created by the broad interpretation of a “right to privacy” that has no legitimate constitutional basis (I have yet to see a valid argument in support of the Supreme Court jurisprudence that created this right), that people would realise that where lives are at stake, the right causes more harm than good. Privacy should not come at the expense of lives.
Although I do recognise the concerns that drug use history could be used as the basis for any drugs-based prosecutions, the state was made to give assurances that this would not be the case. Even if it were, that judge would still be able to throw out such evidence on 4th amendment grounds, or due process concerns.
Ultimately the key is that right to life, when balanced against those concerns, must surely trump them. There’s no point ensuring people have a right to due process if they’re dead. What use is privacy to a corpse I ask?
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