What is privacy?
Much confusion in any privacy discussion stems from a lack of clear definitions. When we asked msnbc.com readers five years ago to say what privacy meant to them, we received dozens of submissions. Among them: Fear of being watched, fear of government intrusion, worry over companies tracking purchases, or technology such as GPS tracking their physical movements.
The most common, however, was simple, and very American: "The right to be left alone." That echoed the definition of privacy given by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis back in 1928.