Privacy as Defined Today
Justice Brandeis' definition of being "let alone" no longer adequately defines the concept of privacy in the 21st Century Cyber Age. The modern definition of privacy therefore needs to also include ‘the right to control our personal information, even after we disclose it to others.’ (http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/start/). Therefore, a contemporary definition of privacy also needs to include the concept of personal data protection in which an individual has the right to control the flow and access of information and data related to his/her personal details. Professor Raymond Wacks sums up this modern concept of privacy by arguing that ".... at the heart of our concern to protect 'privacy' lies a desire, perhaps even a need, to prevent information about us being known to others without our consent." (Wacks 1996)
Modern technology clearly poses new and increasing threats to this broader definition privacy. As a US Privacy Protection Study Commission argued, "The real danger (posed to privacy by the Information Age) is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable." (US Privacy Protection Study Commission 1977). In recent years, privacy advocates have increasingly lobbied for measures to safeguard the protection of personal data. One example of an organization committed to defending data protection privacy issues is the US-based Electronic Frontier Foundation www.eff.org