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North Americans and Europeans are experiencing the widespread introduction and use of various forms of information technology that facilitate the potential invasion of personal privacy. Electronic devices make easier the interception of communications by government agencies and businesses or even private individuals; surveillance cameras in stores and in the workplace monitor aspects of our behavior. Even more pervasive are automated personal information systems, or data banks, that record details of our private lives. Computers monitor banking and credit transactions, the issuing of welfare and unemployment checks, telephone calls, major household purchases, and airline travel schedules; they record traffic violations, preferences in cable television viewing, and medical records (see 1, 2, 3, 6, 10). Home computers and two-way interactive cable television, with their ability to allow public opinion polling, teleshopping, telebanking, the purchase of special entertainment, and fire, security, or medical monitoring services, may be a widespread reality by the end of the decade (4,9), vastly increasing the potential for compiling even more details about who we are and what we do.
Vidmar et al. (Sat,) studied this question.