THE PANOPTIC SORT: RECONSTRUCTING THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMIC SURVEILLANCE

The right to privacy, once conceived as the fundamental right to be let alone, faces an existential crisis in the digital age. The pervasive extraction, analysis, and commodification of personal data by state and corporate actors have transformed privacy from a question of secrecy to one of power and autonomy. This article undertakes a socio-legal analysis of this transformation, examining how jurisprudence is evolving often belatedly to address challenges posed by surveillance capitalism, algorithmic decision-making, and the dissolution of public/private boundaries. It argues that traditional individualistic frameworks are inadequate to protect collective social identities and autonomy. By analyzing landmark case law from 2024 and 2025 across multiple jurisdictions including the Supreme Court of Canada’s rulings, the Supreme People’s Court of China’s data rights cases, and significant American jury verdicts this paper charts the emergence of new legal theories. It explores concepts of privacy as trust, group rights to privacy, and statutory torts as mechanisms to recalibrate the balance of power. The article concludes that safeguarding privacy in the contemporary moment requires a paradigm shift: moving from protecting individual secrets to regulating the technological and commercial infrastructures that enable mass surveillance, thereby preserving the conditions necessary for democratic participation and individual autonomy. Keywords: Right to Privacy, Digital Age, Surveillance Capitalism, Algorithmic Governance, Data Protection, Socio-Legal Studies, Autonomy