<p>"Nowadays nothing is private: Our culture has become too confessional and self-expressive. People think that to hide one's thoughts or feelings is to pretend not to have those thoughts or feelings. They assume that honesty requires one to express every inclination and impulse." Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private?</p>
<p>Since the inception of the computer age our society has become one of publicity; we are all aware of every action and event in the lives of those around us. Privacy, a concept once heralded as a cornerstone of the American way of life, is now a bygone idea that has been usurped by assailents who are growing increasingly bold in their attempts to insinuate their way into the most personal realms of our lives.</p>
<p>In the past twelve months the news has become inundated with talk of illicit wiretapping performed by the United States government upon its unsuspecting citizens. While this eavesdropping is placed under a facade of protection toward the American populace, it comes with the blatant disregard for the privacies dictated by the U.S. Constitution, signed over two centuries ago by the forefathers whose genius conceived of this entire republic. To show such disregard for personal privacy and the constitutional law is both highly immoral and unarguably unpatriotic. Benjamin Franklin, one of the aforementioned founding fathers, once said "Complete liberty cannot coexist with complete security, and anyone who would select the latter is a coward." However severe this statemtn may seem to our modern ears, it holds truth in its words.</p>
<p>The problem of privacy is not only found at the governmental level, however. Also swamping the news is a growing number of reports detailing the dangers that individuals, particuarly teenagers, can get into using online networking sites. The most infamous one of these is the two-year-old MySpace. The third-most-visited website in the world, MySpace allows its users to post pictures, profiles, private information such as high school, sports teams, and a host of other information that could easily be used by online predators to locate a victim. Itis not all doom and gloom, though; MySpace is equipped with the option to make a personal profile private to all users who the member has not selected as a 'friend.'</p>
<p>The tools to invade our privacy are everywhere in today' society. The choice is up to us whether or not we will employ safeguards against these attacks on our privacy. If you choose to do so, let us know. If not, you won't have to tell us.</p>