AddALL.com - American Privacy: The 400-Year History of Our Most Contested Right 0807044415 9780807044414

A page-turning narrative of privacy and the evolution of communication, from broken sealing wax to high-tech wiretapping

Recent years have seen an explosion in communications technology, and the more advanced such technology grows, the more curtailed our privacy becomes. It has never been easier for corporations and governments to collect vast amounts of information about each and every American, writes Frederick S. Lane. In this deft and eye-opening history, he illustrates how we arrived at this breaking point.

Lane traces the origins of the right to privacy, from the Bill of Rights to the controversial 1960s Supreme Court cases that first formally recognized it, and lays bare the speed with which technological and social changes swamped all efforts to maintain that right. From the telegraph and postcard to e-mail and cell phones, from mainframe computers to radio-frequency ID chips, new technology has carried the promise of convenience and the danger of privacy invasion.

The economic, social, and political implications of this unregulated and unsupervised surveillance are profound, yet when it comes to protecting the right to privacy, Americans are often their own worst enemies. Legally, technologically, and historically grounded, American Privacy concludes with a call for Congress to recognize how innovation and infringement often go hand-in-hand, and a challenge to citizens to protect privacy before it is lost completely.