On Sunday, December 03, 2006, the International Telecommunication Union, a branch of the United Nations, said publicly that computer users are at substantial risk of identity theft and violations of privacy. Although Thomas Jefferson could not have envisioned the fast-paced, computerized world in which we live today, he did recognize the importance of privacy. He said:
“If we are made in some degree for others, yet in a greater are we made for ourselves.”
To Jefferson, guarding one’s privacy is paramount if one hopes to be productive and happy. He wrote to James Madison:
“A room to myself, if it be but a barrack, is indispensable.”
Jefferson was talking about physical privacy—having a place to go to be by oneself. He had no notion of the kind of privacy violations that we risk everyday—such as having our passwords and our entire identities stolen—but his point nevertheless holds true. Our privacy is something that we all cherish, and something we often don’t realize we need until we have lost it.
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