Rule's Privacy in Peril

James Rule takes up the timely issue of privacy in the age of global terrorism and post 9/11 forms of social control.He presents the history of information gathering in the United States, and places privacy into its new context of The Patriot Act.Here, 9/11 is understood as a turning point, after which the political economy of private information has been largely driven by the culture of fear.The rhetoric of security is used to legitimate possible invasions of privacy.Rule discusses the use of personal data from a range of points of view -from social security numbers to identity cards, from wiretapping to tracking, and from medical care to credit files.According to Rule, surveillance expands by feeding itself, in other words, the "socio-logic" of surveillance is to grow (18).The book is structured around two major fields of data gathering: the authorities and market forces.Legislation plays a central role here, and Rule describes the development of American privacy laws from the 14 th century to the present day and builds international comparison with four other countries: Great Britain, Australia, Canada and France.Nevertheless, the book is very American, which is most apparent in the repeated reference to "our nation."