In the era of computers, individual human distance is more than digital distance. Personal phone call is harder than communicating through texts and emails. People spill more information virtually than to anyone in person. Most of us have more personal information stored on-line than in a physical book. Vast treasure trove of data is a big economy. At the same time, that is a target for hacking and mal ware.
In my view, although limited in this area, there is no privacy in any server storage. I consider, once someone is online; it loses privacy fore ever. Conversely, it gives a false sense of security because, there is no storage, which keeps any data secure for a long period of time. Vast swaths of technology firms are working in that direction and getting better over the period of time. In any efforts to improvise security, someone, other than the owner of information, will have backdoor access to it.
So in the real sense, there is nothing like true privacy in the digital world. Computers & the Internet is designed to communicate; it will be very hard to bring an absolute privacy. In my view, digital world only hides real faces and makes it harder to track in certain cases, but information is always shared at some point in the entire process. The federal government in most of the countries are engaging in citizen surveillance, frequent privacy breaches and eavesdropping. There is an argument that, if someone has nothing to hide than nothing to fear. However, considering privacy as the fundamental right, government shouldn't evade by the name of security. In most of the countries, law foul breach of privacy takes place only when there is a reason or malicious intent.
In free countries, federal agencies provide privacy to anyone irrespective of behavior within scope of law. Government agencies have the duty provide the real sense of security to the citizen. By the name of duty, they continue to evade privacy. Worrisome part is, how lawfully they evade privacy, is a huge question. So far, far, as the world has evolved, there is nothing like privacy and security. Most of the time, privacy is being breached to provide best security. Oftentimes, strict privacy rules are blamed for flaws in security. So it is still debatable that what is strongly desired, privacy or security? Countries and organizations throughout the world have distinctive preference. Is privacy is breached to get easy access to more information or for better security? Are countries with strict privacy law less secure? I don't think so!