Legislative Memo: Internet Privacy
The revolutionary pace with which our communications infrastructures and technologies have grown has truly made global access to information easier and more efficient. Yet the enormous advantages provided by electronic networking also present unprecedented threats to personal security and privacy. More than at any other time in our history, it is now possible with relative ease to gather, link and sell information about organizations and governments, and to compile profiles of millions of individuals that include their most sensitive and personal data.
The NYCLU believes that the privacy of an individual is directly affected by the collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of personal information by government agencies and the private sector. Every day millions of people give away private data -- from information about medical conditions, home addresses, mortgage borrowing, stock purchases, household incomes and social security numbers -- often providing such facts without understanding the consequences until it is too late. Without sufficient safeguarding of such information, we are all vulnerable to unwarranted, annoying and potentially dangerous snooping -- by governments, businesses, nosy neighbors and thieves.