Despite (or perhaps because of) the vast literature surrounding ‘privacy’, it has proved to
be a somewhat nebulous concept. Wacks has argued, “Privacy has been so deva lued that
it no longer warrants if it ever did serious consideration as a legal term of art.” (Wacks,
1980a: 10). He continues, “the long search for a definition of “privacy” has produced a
continuing debate that is often sterile, and, ultimately futile.” (ibid.). It is partly the
difficulty of providing an adequate definition that has seen reluctance on the part of both
Parliament and the courts to develop a domestic concept of privacy. Thus, despite the
pertinent comment in the Canadian case, R v Duarte (1990 65 DLR (4th) 240, at 249),
that ‘one can scarcely imagine a state activity more dangerous to individual privacy than
electronic surveillance’, such activities have been lawful within the UK even in the
absence of legal regulation.