Privacy Of Communication In The Eyes Of Constitutional Right

Since 1960's, telecommunication has become the necessary tool and means for people to communicate with each other after the human society experienced the industrial revolution and entered the in the society of information dominated by computer technology. How to effectively protect the citizens' right of communication privacy in the times of telecommunication is the major topic in the context of rule of law and constitutionalism.Privacy of communication is a kind of information which is formed in the activities of communication, not known by the public and expected to be kept secret. Therefore privacy of communication includes two categories: the content information of communication and additional information of communication, while the users' information is not included in the scope of privacy of communication. Different degrees of protective measures should be taken to deal with different categories of information, and clearly be regulated in the form of law. As far as the examining and inquiring communication information is concerned, it is the public security organs, national security organs, procuratorial organs and prisons that can examine and inquire about the content information of communication in accordance with the law; the people's courts and the supervisory departments for inspecting discipline, and the responsible departments of communication can be granted the powers by, the law of telecommunication to inquire about the additional information of communication; and the provisions of protecting personal information should be applied to the users' information of communication. The right of communication privacy is the right that citizens enjoy and that they are unwilling to let the public know their information of communication. The right of communication privacy has been directly confirmed and protected by constitutional law in the legal system of most states, and what' more, the right of communication privacy should be a constitutional right. The characteristics of this constitutional right shows that the right of communication privacy is the expansion and extending of the doctrine of " personal supremacy" in the fundamental human right safeguard. The right of communication privacy is the right specially confirmed and protected by the constitution. It can resist the public powers and private rights in the common laws. Since the formation of constitution in Qing Dynasty, the right of communication privacy has been brought into the prevision of Constitution, In the United state, the right of communication privacy exists an the right of privacy in the form of constitutional rights. In Germany, the right of communication privacy is the fundamental constitutional right. In Japan, it is of the nature of fundamental human rights.The protection to the right of communication privacy is greatly challenged by the reality. The inspecting power exercised by the state agencies lacks correspondent procedures. The technical investigation into communication threatens the citizen's right of communication privacy. The inspection to the criminal correspondence by prison officials may be unconstitutional. The court's power of investigation may conflict with the right of citizen's communication privacy. The inquiring power and the evidence-collecting power of the supervisory departments for inspecting discipline and the management of the responsible departments of communication have the possibility of violating the citizens' right of the communication privacy. The establishment of a legal mechanism to effectively protect the citizens' right of communication privacy depends on strengthening the constitutional senses and regulation of the right of communication privacy as a constitutional right. The law of communication privacy should be formulated, and constitutional restraint on the departments with public powers should be laid, so as to respect and protect the right of communication privacy in the society.