I think I am correct in my assumption that most of us U.S. Citizens believe we have a right to privacy. I say "U.S. Citizens" because I want to distinguish us from the rest of the "Americans." That is, distinguish us from those who are not U.S. Citizens and many of whom aren't even on this continent but who consider themselves "Americans." For example, people in Mexico consider themselves Americans. And people in South America consider themselves to Americans. Which brings up another interesting topic, which is that we in the United States don't seem to have a particularly good name for our country. At least not a name that's conducive to using as a reference to oneself. i.e. you can't call yourself "a United Statian" or "a United Statan" or United anything. It just doesn't sound right. This has been a problem since 1776. They got democracy right; they messed up on the name of our country. So we call ourselves Americans, confusing some people and irritating others because we appear self-serving. You can read about it here. But I digress from the purpose of this posting: The erosion of privacy.
In 1997, the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International undertook what has become the most comprehensive survey of global privacy ever published. The Privacy & Human Rights Report surveys developments in 70 countries, assessing the state of surveillance and privacy protection. The most recent report published in 2007, available here. Notice in the map above that the United States is colored black. Black identifies the countries that have the greatest amount of surveillance and the least protection of individual privacy rights. Green is where you want to be, but only Greece (!) is green. Congratulations to the Greeks! A close look at the chart on the Report website reveals that the U.S. is listed as "deteriorating." We're far from green. Indeed, we appear to be fighting for worst place with China. Our score is 1.5 and China's is 1.3 on the National Privacy Ranking 2007. What does this score mean? It means we're deluded. Duped. Deceived. Misled. How does this happen in a country that has freedom of press? The answer to that question is another topic altogether.
Exerpts from the Report:
- No right to privacy is included in our constitution, though search and seizure protections exist in 4th Amendment.
- REAL-ID and biometric identification programs (i.e fingerprints and retinal scans) continue to spread without adequate oversight, research, and funding structures
- Extensive data-sharing programs across federal government and with private sector
- Spreading use of CCTV
- Congress approved presidential program of spying on foreign communications over U.S. networks, e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, etc.; and now considering immunity for telephone companies, while government claims secrecy, thus barring any legal action
- World leading in border surveillance, mandating trans-border data flows
- Weak protections of financial and medical privacy
- Recent news regarding FBI biometric database raises particular concerns as this could lead to the largest database of biometrics around the world that is not protected by strong privacy law
And what about demanding to look in your bag? Fuggetaboutit.
Some interesting links:
Welcome to the Fourth Amendment
Papers Please: Arrested at Circuit City
The Consummerist
