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Contemporary Issues in Law and Society - Assignment
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Added on 2020-03-23
Contemporary Issues in Law and Society - Assignment
Added on 2020-03-23
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PORTFOLIO 2ContentsIntroduction.................................................................................................................................................3Media Review.............................................................................................................................................3Literature Review........................................................................................................................................5Advice to Parliament...................................................................................................................................7Recommendation 1..................................................................................................................................7Recommendation 2..................................................................................................................................7Recommendation 3..................................................................................................................................8Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8References.................................................................................................................................................10Bibliography..............................................................................................................................................12
PORTFOLIO 3IntroductionThe relationship between the society and individual is a closely knitted one. This is particularly because the society is deemed as the regulatory body which sets out customs and the ground rules for the human behaviour. These rules and customs formed by the society have an impact on the individuals and even on the manner in which they interact (Lin, Duan & Zhao, 2012). The individuals form the society and they live and act in the society. Hence, without the combination of these individuals, the society is nothing. Conversely, the society is present to serve the individuals and the same is not true other way round. Even though society and individuals go hand in hand, more than often, there is a conflict between the needs of the society and the rights which are available to the individuals (Wong & Wardega, 2015). This is a natural tension which exists in the society due to the needs of the individuals and their interests being on one side, and the welfare, security and safety of the society being taken as a whole, on the other side. And this makes it necessary to strike a balance between these two in a manner that the individuals could choose their own path and the society is able to encourage public order, productivity and morality (Hillier & Barrow, 2014). Through this thesis, an attempt has been made to show that the state should refrain from interfering with the rights of the individuals. This research also attempts to answer to the question regarding to what extent the liberties of the citizens can be restricted by the state for serving the common good. Further, to also answer the extent to which the protection of the welfare of the public is being used to erode or curtail the fundamental rights (Bayer, 2007). The main question however is whether the needs of the society be given more importance than the individual rights, or not?Media ReviewSchudson (2015) quoted Thomas Jefferson where he had stated that "information is the currency of democracy" or that is this is an easy thing to be learnt online. The reality is that no such quote was given by Jefferson. And naturally, the people who run the webpage of Jefferson’s home located at Monticello were unable to find this quote in any of the papers of Jefferson. In reality, there is no need of spending any time in searching this as the American founders seldom spoke on the topic of democracy and the American form of government could be labelled as republican, instead of democratic. Schudson (2015) did not stop here and continued to cite the history of US to highlight that transparency was not something which was advocated in the US government and that here had been various instances in the North American history where the full access to relevant information was not given to the citizens. The
PORTFOLIO 4reason for such behaviour was the need to protect the society as a whole by denying an individual their right to full information. At times there are good reasons for adopting secrecy particularly when it comes to the privacy rights. When the terror attacks took place in Mumbai, India, in November 2012, each and every detail of the last communication of the victims was repeated in the media (CNN Library, 2016). This information was not useful and also did not reveal anything which could impact the operations being conducted. But one cannot deny that the media had overstepped their limits. This was because they not only attained the personal information of a person but also published the same. In the name of presenting the society the truth, the individual rights were sidelined (Makhija, 2011). The scandal associated with the use of personal email account of Hilary Clinton is another key example of this. This case throws light upon the clash between public right to information and a legitimate confidentiality of internal communications (2015). But this raises a question on whether the people with power have the right to use the society as a shield to stop actions against themselves? Schudson (2015) implied that at times, the personal interest of the ones who run the society, can be misused to shield their personal interests, thus, not only cancelling out the right of information of another, but also keeping their personal interest over the society. When such happens, the reasons which make the upholding of society’s interest over the interests of individuals become unjustified. The reason for apprehending Edward Snowden thus becomes controversial as at one hand, he is being stopped from leaking such information which could harm the society, and on the other hand, he may present such information which presents the truth related to the US government and the potential misuse of the positions held by those in administration. One of the articles which appeared in “The Telegraph” stated that the governments should refrain from intervening in the family life of an individual (The Telegraph, 2007). The government here refers to the society, which regulates even over the family life of an individual, where the interest of the family could, at times, be set aside.Truell (2016) rightly highlighted that social work pertains to the whole of society instead of a particular person. Starkman (2016) covered the student debate on the topic that “is national security more important than individual right to privacy”, where this issue was discussed in a compelling manner. The key points which made the interest of the society to be given more emphasis than the individual rights included the greater public protection offered due to it, particularly to the immigrants, minorities and LGBTQ community. For instance, if a particular person does not have positive views about minorities being allowed in Australia, such individual cannot exercise any individual right against the members of such minorities and thus, for the good of society, the needs of an individual would be ignored. The key
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