What is Privacy?
a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by others (Oxford English Dictionary) the quality or condition of being secluded from the presence or view of others (American Heritage Dictionary) freedom from unauthorized intrusion (Merriam-Websters Dictionary)

Three basic meanings of Privacy:

Seclusion: the right to be hidden from the perceptions of others
Solitude: the right to be left alone
Self-determination: the right to control information about oneself

The Patriot Act, government eavesdropping, the distribution of our most personal information recent security breaches and marketing-related invasions have affected the privacy of millions of Americans. So who has access to this information about us and what exactly are they doing with it? This question touches almost every aspect of our lives from control over our finances and identities to the (assumed) basic right to keep our thoughts, actions, medical histories, whereabouts, and other personal information to ourselves.

Privacy Lost closely examines privacy infringements from targeted behavioral marketing to government actions condoned by The Patriot Act counter-terrorism programs utilizing electronic probing of US citizens on an unprecedented scale. None of these activities would be possible without the availability of sophisticated information technologies such as data-mining programs that are used to sift through the rapidly growing data heaps of our newly digitized civilization.

We cannot afford to ignore this issue. This book and website aims to help everyone understand what is at risk in the Digital Age, who the perpetrators are, what can be done about it, and how and why, to some extent, our privacy is already lost.