Privacy and the Digital State

Balancing Public Information and Personal Privacy

Alan Charles Raul The devastating and reprehensible acts of terrorism committed against the 11, 2001 have greatly affected our lives, our United States on September livelihoods, and perhaps our way of living. The system of government embodied in our Constitution and Bill of Rights was designed to inhibit excessively efficient government. By imposing checks and balances against over-reaching governmental power, the Founders intended to promote the rule of laws, not men - and to protect the prerogatives of citizens over and above their rulers. No faction was to become so powerful that the rights and interests of any other groups or individuals could be easily trampled. Specifically, the Framers of our constitutional structure prohibited the government from suppressing speech, inhibiting the right of free association, of people, conducting unreasonable preventing (peaceful) assemblies searches and seizures, or acting without observing the dictates of due process and fair play. After September 11, there is a risk that the philosophical protections of the Constitution could appear more than a trifle "academic. " Indeed, our tradional notions of "fair play" will be sorely tested in the context of our compelling requirements for effective self-defense against brutal, evil killers who hate the very idea of America. Now that we witness the grave physical dangers that confront our families, friends, neighbors, and businesses, our commitment to limited government and robust individual liberties will of our inevitably - and understandably - be challenged.