In a general sense, we agree people should be entitled to privacy.

However, as with the right to free speech, privacy should not be a blanket entitlement.

A person cannot shout SA国际影视传媒淔ire!SA国际影视传媒� in a movie theatre, and defend that idiotic action as free speech (unless, of course, there actually happens to be a fire).

Likewise, a person is not entitled to complete privacy no matter what he or she happens to do.

For instance, an adult charged or convicted of a criminal offence has no right to expect that his or her identity will be kept private, except in very exceptional cases to protect the identity of a victim. One of the defences against an unjust justice system is that charges and punishment become public knowledge, and everyone can judge whether they are fair or not.

That example seems pretty clear.

Unfortunately, other instances are not so clear, at least from the vantage point of a free press, when government can invoke individual privacy, apparently at will.

A private individual/business/organization can claim privacy all day long, and who can really argue with that?

However, government agencies have over the years become obsessed with privacy, especially since the passage of privacy legislation.

Since then, privacy has been used to deny information on a multitude of issues. Earlier this year, the in Alberta refused to release the names of victims in four homicide cases, citing privacy considerations.

Members of the media in the NWT run into privacy roadblocks all the time SA国际影视传媒� from the police and all sorts of government departments and agencies.

Just recently, The Hub wanted to get some information from the Department of Health and Social Services about an issue involving a Hay River woman, who was even talking to the media about her situation.

However, the department SA国际影视传媒� citing privacy SA国际影视传媒� would only offer generalities which explained nothing, and provided no guidance to anyone on how to deal with the department.

A cynic might wonder if the right to privacy is invoked so often for the benefit of the government agencies, rather than individuals. After all, it is much easier not to have to answer difficult questions.

All of this is even more puzzling because the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not mention privacy as a right.

There is, of course, the privacy legislation, but it is subject to interpretation and that seems to have tilted to what sometimes seems like a shutdown of information.

Since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is silent on this issue, we will defer to our next source of guidance on all matters SA国际影视传媒� Star Trek. In the climactic scene of The Wrath of Khan, Spock famously says, "Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." To which Capt. (then Admiral) Kirk answers, "Or the one."

Therefore, we would say there are times when the good of society is not being served by an unwavering devotion to individual privacy.

It's good for government to defend privacy, but it should do so with a bit of common sense.