I define physical privacy as control over who can sense us and control over when we can sense others. By sense I means simply the five senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. I exclude from my definition control over anything that can be stored on a computer. Distinguishing physical sensual privacy from other sorts of privacy is useful for reviving the constitutional right of privacy. The line of cases of Griswold, Roe, Lawrence, and Obergefell can be seen as protecting physical sensual privacy rather than protecting a vague Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest. The Fourth Amendment’s formula of “reasonable expectations of privacy,” which has not worked well to protect general informational privacy, can be used to protect physical sensual privacy, which, as I define it, is the foundation for human autonomy and for trust, friendship, and love.

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A Definition of Physical Privacy: Reviving Constitutional Privacy