Right to privacy

In the future, the internet, and related computer technologies will permit infinitely fine tracking of each individual's finances, health, personal habits, work history, friends, communications, beliefs, religion--in short, all the things that make us individuals, people, and persons in the world.

Unless we direct governments, particularly the American government, to permit the existence, and the flourishing, of individual privacy, through both the accountability of private, and public compilers of information, and the absolute right to anonymity, personal freedom will disappear.

Not that this is new in the world or even America, Tocqueville warned of this at the beginning of the American republic.

The FBI has software that can search e-mail. I believe this is called Project Carnivore. Many people believe the FBI has the right to do such a thing. "It is for catching criminals, plus, I don't care if the FBI runs through my e-mail." There are two problems associated with this, the slippery slope and the right to privacy.

The slippery slope suggests that if we allow the FBI to search our e-mail, the FBI will feel as if they are able to infringe on our rights even more. Where will it end?

We have a right to privacy established through the Supreme Court's interpretation of the 9th Amendment. While no one has challenged the right to privacy on e-mail, it is comparable to regular mail. I would hope that I receive the same amount of security in my e-mail as I do from the Postal Service.