It has become so much easier for people to gather information on any of us. And I think it pays to be cautious with personal and financial information on the Web. So yes, privacy has become an overriding issue in legal circles. Anything you write down can be passed on to a limitless audience with the click of a button. Relatedly, the Supreme Court this term is taking up a case that involves federal privacy restrictions on information that states collect when they issue driver's licenses.
Many states like to sell the information.
In a recent case involving a Web site that was publishing confidential Ford Motor Co. documents, the battle was between free speech and trade secrets. The federal judge sided with the First Amendment, even though she acknowledged the commercial stakes for Ford. Her order allowed the operator of the site to continue posting the internal documents that he said he received anonymously. But each of these business cases will be different. At this point, however, judges are emphasizing the primacy of free speech.