Nicholas Carr

Voices

Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers

Nicholas Carr, Blogger, Rough Type, Author, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains." in News on August 6, 2010 at 1:10 pm PT

In a 1963 Supreme Court opinion, Chief Justice Earl Warren observed that “the fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication constitute a great danger to the privacy of the individual.” The advances have only accelerated since then, along with the dangers. Today, as companies strive to personalize the services and advertisements they provide over the Internet, the surreptitious collection of personal information is rampant. The very idea of privacy is under threat.