Like most people, I don’t know much on the legality of this subject. I know that unlike the pursuit of happiness, privacy is not guaranteed by the Constitution (the preamble counts). We have all sorts of rights to say and do stuff in public view, but not in the privacy of your own home.
We have small assurances made by the government, namely government websites can’t install cookies on your computer because that would constitute spying. Of course, they are allowed to tap your phone calls without warrants now. But that small measure only applies to the government. Private corporations can keep all the tabs on you they want, and sell the information to other companies. Not only that, but the government can just subpoena these companies and get the information after all. They don’t need to spy for themselves, they can let other companies do it for their own gain and then acquire it in the courts.
What we need is some definitive legislation, or at the very least concrete guidelines, about what forms of privacy we are and are not entitled to. We already have two Constitutional Amendments pertaining to prohibition, how about one that delineates what I’m entitled to keep to myself? Right now most people don’t know in which circumstances they’re required to give out their social security number, or even just how much personal information I associated with it. We’re not allowed to make personal backups of CDs and DVDs we paid good money for in case they get scratched. Texas tried to prevent people from having consensual sex in their own homes!
The ambiguity and the consequences are only getting worse. We need a solution soon.
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