The challenging world of privacy advocacy

Abstract

The power and reach of government agencies and corporations have increased greatly in the last few decades, and the prospects, and threats, inherent in so-called 'public private partnerships' now loom large. The terrorist attacks of the first decade of the new century have been ruthlessly exploited by national security agencies not only to recover but to considerably extend their powers, to give them even greater freedom from democratic controls, and to increase their resources. Law enforcement agencies and even social control agencies have gained powers as well, in part by clinging to the coat-tails of national security.