Infringement of privacy is a complex and difficult issue involving diverse meanings in different cultures. At the simplest level, unwanted intrusions on one's immediate situation of being alone or with family is a violation of privacy. The intrusion may be the physical presence of others or the noises one does not wish to hear. Degrees of privacy depend on the proximity of the intruder which is largely culturally defined. In some activities an important aspect of privacy is the freedom from observation, such as when praying, defecating or having sexual relations. In this vain privacy may be violated by being compelled to observe things which are offensive. While not every intrusion is a violation of privacy where the line is difficult to determine at any given moment because of shifting social expectations and the increasing interaction between people of different cultures.A second dimension of infringements of privacy is the dispersion of private information about persons. Observations and physical intrusions may also be means of obtaining information that the individual want to keep secret. When information about a person is obtained against his will either by coercion or by force their right to privacy has been violated. When another person divulges information to a broader audience or it has been taken privacy has been violated. The right to privacy in some societies has been extended to include the freedom from inaccurate or misleading information being spread about an individual.
A third dimension of the infringement of privacy is lack of autonomy in making private decisions. While this is perhaps the most debatable dimension, it is, for example, acceptable by many legal and social systems for a married couple to choose whether to use contraceptives if it wishes. The right for a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy is argued as a right to the autonomous making of private choices.
Different legal systems emphasize different aspects of the right to privacy; many claims to privacy are hard to distinguish from claims to respect for personal integrity, to personality, and to freedom from interference from government and other external agents. Litigations concerning violated rights of privacy may arise between celebrities or public figures and the media, particularly sensationalist tabloids. Under some countries' laws, public figures such as heads of state or royal families appear to have less rights to privacy than other people, as everything concerning them may be deemed legitimate news.
