The New Enemy of Privacy: Big Bucks

Abstract

evidence presented here points to a conclusion that is both obvious and often ignored that currently the main danger to privacy for people who live in free democratic societies comes from the private sector, not the government; Big Bucks, not Big Brother. This danger is highlighted by the sources of systematic, authorized abuse of personal information, as distinct from occasional unauthorized use of such information by some rogue employee or merchant. It is further supported by an examination of the lineup of those who oppose new measures seeking to protect privacy in general and medical privacy in particular. Progressive people have long viewed the government as the enemy of privacy. It has been shown that, in the J. Edgar Hoover age, the FBI and local police forces often opened the mail and tapped the phones of civil rights leaders and antiwar activists. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) protests programs of mandatory drug testing and searches of school lockers by local authorities. Cyber-libertarians vigorously object to govern-