Skip to product information
1 of 1

A Responsum Regarding the Right to Priva

Regular price $3.00
Regular price Sale price $3.00
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.

This responsum examines the halakhic permissibility of contemporary privacy violations, including the sale of client vital statistics, distribution of organizational mailing lists, and commercial exploitation of caller identification data. Through textual analysis of biblical, mishnaic, talmudic, and post-talmudic sources, this study demonstrates that Jewish law unequivocally prohibits the disclosure of personal information without explicit consent. The methodology employs a systematic examination of four categories of halakhic privacy protections: visual privacy (*hezek r'iyah*), territorial privacy of domiciles, epistolary privacy established by Rabbeinu Gershom's *herem*, and confidentiality of secrets. Key biblical sources include Genesis narratives establishing visual privacy norms, Deuteronomic creditor-debtor protection laws, and the principle derived from Leviticus 1:1 requiring explicit permission before revealing confidential information. The analysis reveals that halakhah conceptualizes privacy as a fundamental right rather than a privilege, directly contradicting contemporary commercial practices that treat personal data as tradeable commodities. The study concludes that Jewish law categorically forbids companies from disclosing client information to third parties without express permission, based on both general privacy principles and specific prohibitions against revealing secrets. These findings challenge modern assumptions about the "public's right to know" and provide a religious-legal framework for resisting the erosion of individual privacy in the information age.

View full details
  • Physical Description

  • Publication Information

    Published 1996

    ISBN

  • Publication Credits

    David Golinkin