There is little agreement about what privacy entails, but people have always been concerned about it. They have always attempted to keep certain aspects of their life hidden from the others. I wish to explore to what extent our concerns in relation to privacy have attained new dimensions since we have become members of the Internet Society.
People are apprehensive of different things.
Some wish to prevent information about their potentially illegal acts from reaching the eyes and ears of the state. Others feel the need to speak up critically and anonymously about an influential public figure or about their employer. And none of us wish to share our personal, sometimes embarrassing or immoral, communications and actions with anybody, other than those to whom they were intended. Essentially, living in the Internet Society should not have altered our concerns. Before, we feared letters falling into wrong hands, tapped telephone lines, tiny cameras installed in offices and hotel rooms, or policemen peering into our bedrooms.