Europeans have generally managed to preserve individual privacy rights better than we have in the U.S. On this side of the Atlantic many seem to see government as the main threat to their privacy -- thus the overblown concerns regarding the need to register guns, or still dumber, the notion that a camera that catches you running a red light on a public street is an invasion of "privacy."
At the same time, we pay lip service to the privacy of our personal information. We say we value it, but in fact often fail to take basic steps to protect it, showing a perfect willingness to offer up all sorts of information about ourselves to all manner of businesses and poliltical interests. Such privacy give-aways run from the ubiquitous "affinity cards" that track everything we buy at the grocery store under the guise of giving us discounts, to the wholesaling of our medical records, to the information we make available by using websites and social networking.
The differences between us and Europe are limned clearly now, as "Big Info" concerns are waging a war against a nascent new European Union data-privacy law that would limit the rights of companies like Google and Facebook to use your information however they like.
If we really value privacy and expect our information to be used only for purposes strictly related to our business relationships, we should be rooting for the Europeans on this one.
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