The Internet as a Lens: Concepts of Privacy in Online Spaces

While most societies grant legal protection to expectations of privacy, such protection is rarely if ever absolute; privacy rights are generally limited both by the consent of the individual and by a range of competing values such as national security, effective law enforcement, and access to government records or information relevant to public issues. These values, and the way they limit privacy rights, are in many senses the ‘fingerprint’ of a given nation, reflecting a country’s particular balance between personal autonomy and public authority.