Privacy is freedom from being watched or disturbed by others. Invade his privacy, a right to privacy, privacy settings.
The argument that you need it only if you have something to hide misses the point — privacy is about control over what is known rather than about concealment of wrongdoing. It is a qualified right in European law, weighed against free expression.
1nounprivacyFreedom from being watched or disturbed by others.
“I closed the curtains for a bit of privacy while I changed my clothes.”
privacy is a freedom.
Proto-Indo-European
*per
Latin
prīvātus — bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release
Middle English
privat — individual, exclusive, private
English
private
English, today
privacy
Built from
From private + -acy. private comes from Middle English privat (“individual, exclusive, private”), from Latin prīvātus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive, release”) (see -ate for more), from prīvus (“private, one's own, proper”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per; compare prime, prior, pristine. a doublet of privy.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA