The Right of Privacy in the Age of Computer Data and Processing

Discusses the importance of an individual’s right to privacy of their records and papers. The author ties this right to other human rights and critiques the United States for its apathy towards human rights around the world. The right of privacy may be idealistically compared with the freedom of speech. The right of privacy stands out today in this computer age as a basic human right that is entitled to protection by organized society throughout the world. The United States must take leadership and make human rights a cornerstone of its foreign policy, asserting the right to call violators to public account and linking important national decisions, such as foreign aid, foreign trade, and arms sales, to the conditions of individual rights in different countries.