There is a good post over at The Liberty Papers by Brad, who I'm proud to say is a reader here, on the right to privacy. There has been discussion on this issue here recently and I thought some of you may like to read this:

One of the most contentious bits of Constitutional jurisprudence in history has been the “Right to Privacy”. Some say it’s not there at all, as the word “privacy” never even appears in the document. Some say it flows out of penumbras, formed by emanations. I wish I had a clue what the heck that means. The real answer is much, much simpler, but if followed, throws the whole system on its ear. That answer flows straight out of the idea of Natural Rights, and is expressed by a portion of the Constitution that is roundly ignored, the Ninth Amendment:

Amendment IX - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Of course, without an enumeration, it is difficult to understand exactly what sort of rights are protected by the Ninth Amendment. Is a “Right to Privacy” hiding in there? How about a “Right to Polygamy”? Perhaps a “Right to Animal Sacrafice”? Who knows what we might find in there? Could this possibly have been what the Founders intended?

I think it is. The Ninth Amendment, coupled with the Tenth, the Constitutional framework of listing enumerated governmental powers, and later the inclusion of the Fourteenth Amendment, is meant to convey a very specific idea. Where the Constitution has given the government the power to act, it may act, within certain limits. Where the government does not have the power to act, the people are free to exercise their liberty without intrusion.

It's a good read, check it out.

[UPDATE] I wanted to throw my two cents in on this issue. As a captialist and follower of classical liberalism, I wholeheartedly believe in a right to privacy. It relates to the the concept of natural or negative rights. As Brad put it in his post:

The Founding Fathers certainly believed in a Right to Privacy, insofar as they didn’t believe the government had a legitimate purpose to be doing anything which might infringe upon it. In our current Constitutional jurisprudence, the Right to Privacy is an exception to unlimited government power. If we returned to a Presumption of Liberty, the Right to Privacy, along with a host of other rights and liberties, wouldn’t be an exception at all, it would be would be the standard.

To say that a right to privacy doesn't exist due to security or the common good sounds like something that comes from the Soviet Union. It's the very same argument that liberals use against the right to bear arms. I know...I know, the Constitution specifically mentions that right...but the Ninth Amendment is the guardian of natural rights (the right to privacy, travel, contract and so on).