Concern over personal privacy has risen as a result of two areas of development in computing and related technologies. First, databases used as surveillance tools for gathering, storing, and disseminating personal information have stirred fears that privacy is being eroded. This type of concern for privacy is known as information privacy. Second, vastly expanded communications abilities, including electronic mail and wireless communications networks, have raised questions about the appropriate degree of privacy for these new forms of communications. This type of concern for privacy is known as communications privacy. This article will focus mainly on information privacy.

The practice of collecting, recording, and storing personal data began long before the advent of computers. For example, the Domesday Book was a written record of a census and survey of English landowners and their property made by the order of William the Conqueror in 1085. However, computers...