The Struggle of a Democracy Against Terrorism - Protection of Human Rights : The Right to Privacy Versus the National Interest - the Proper Balance

In the war against terrorism a democracy needs to to find the just balance between defending effectively the right of its citizens to survive and have a normal life and the preservation of its basic values and human rights. Finding this balance is not an easy task. Difficult legal questions are accompanied by a number of moral dilemmas. This article is not concerned with finding the proper fundamental balance between the interest of national security on one hand and the entire range of individual liberties and rights on the other; rather, it is concerned with identifying the balance between national security and a human being's fundamental right to privacy.What, therefore, is the proper rational balance which must be drawn between protection of the privacy of the citizens of a state on one hand and the security interest in invading the public's privacy on the other, which would allow the security authorities to identify those few who would exploit the right to privacy in order to plan and execute acts of terror?This article explores the legal formula by which a democracy should execute its duties in combating terrorism and still preserving our right of privacy