Four affirmative cases are outlined with suggestions for further research for the privacy topic. Follow the links below to the general introduction to the case areas and to the specific cases. The media regularly reports how Americans fear for their privacy. We are warned that powerful Web technologies make it easier than ever for businesses to collect information about our comings and goings in cyberspace, making us increasingly vulnerable to intrusions on our privacy by aggressive marketers or even criminals.
Polls reveal less about public attitudes than observations of their actual behavior.
There is little evidence that fears about privacy have slowed people's actual use of the Internet. The strongest fears about privacy loss may not be related to the growth of e-commerce and cybercrime, as debaters of the privacy topic will do well to recognize early on. Instead, it is intrusions by government itself that play a major, if less publicized, role in diminishing individual privacy. For many reasons people have much more reason to be concerned about invasions of their privacy by the state than by private businesses and organizations. These changes in public attitudes toward government control are easier to recognize when placed in historical perspective.