Civil Liberties, Privacy, + Security

From NowPublic News:

If privacy is an essential component of personhood, how is personhood compromised by the information age, surveillance technologies, and other potential invasions of privacy? Similarly, what constitutes sufficient justification for the invasion of privacy by government, private individuals, or business entities? Lastly, for the purposes of constructing policy, how should policy reflect the appropriate balance in protecting privacy?' - Lisa Nelson in 'Privacy and Technology: Reconsidering a Crucial Public Policy Debate in the Post-Sept. 11 Era'


Denver Attorney H. Bryan Cunningham divides privacy issues into two buckets or baskets: (1) the relationship of citizens to its government and (2) the relationship of citizens to everyone else such as marketers, big banks, computer companies, etc. The United States and European Union view these two categories 'diametrically opposite' of each other, he said.


For example, British police have the authority to arrest and to hold suspects for up to 28 days without charging them with a crime; whereas, American police can only hold suspects for up to 48 hours, he said.