It s a world of farms, and cities, and planned communities, and skyscrapers, and the Internet. It s a world filled with video cameras, hidden microphones, and surveillance satellites. It s a world where vast telemarketing enterprises follow our every move, trying to figure out how to make us buy things that we really don t want or need. It s a world in which our words and actions are being constantly scrutinized by the state security apparatus, on the lookout for the next terrorist, or drug dealer, or organized criminal. It s a world in which privacy matters more than ever.
Privacy is a natural resource that is owned by the people of the planet.
A forest that is empty of people has no privacy. But when two people hike into that forest by themselves, they create their privacy. Those two people have a right to speak in that forest without being overheard. They have a right to look at the trees around them without seeing advertisements. They have a right to walk without having their movements tracked.