Every day we engage in a series of trade-offs, swopping little portions of our privacy for the luxury of an easy life. Mundane activities such as taking cash from the ATM machine, paying for the shopping by credit card or surfing the web make things more convenient but mean the minutia of our life is accessible at the touch of a button.
Conducting business and managing a personal life anonymously is almost impossible today. The right to privacy may be enshrined in our constitution and written into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but technology ensures we leave electronic tracks.
The scope and content of our legal rights regarding privacy are not well-defined but a dictionary definition describes private as something kept or withdrawn from publicity or observation. In reality, the notion of privacy is increasingly elusive.
Walking around Dublin feels anonymous enough until you take into account the closed-circuit camera system that has been in operation in the city for the last 12 months. The line from Gardai is that law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from the cameras.
Their advice that only criminals should fear the system is not as reassuring as they might hope. There is no telling when we could end up in situations we would rather not have recorded. But Big Brother is watching and he's coming soon to street corners in Bray, Cork, Galway and Tralee. We are also comfortable when we use a cash machine or credit card but each time we do, another loop of data is fed to our banks. Logging onto the Internet leaves an easily accessed trail, as more than one office employee using the web for non-work-related activities has discovered to his or her embarrassment. With the right technological know-how, even calls on some mobile phones can be traced.
Most mornings we open our post to find piles of unsolicited, or junk, mail and we wonder where on earth Ripoff Ltd or BuyMe and Co got our name. A more sinister implication of these threads of data is the thought that if these companies can get our details, who else is sorting through our electronic linen, dirty or otherwise?
Some would argue this constant electronic surveillance can hurt only the bad guys such as white-collar criminals, tax evaders and abusers of the social welfare system. But what about the individuals right to enjoy a private life? The truth is that unless one spurns technology altogether, the freedom to move about under a blanket of absolute privacy is denied.
Others may think raising such a topic warrants a call to the paranoia police. The words of one private detective may change their mind. "With enough time and enough money, it is possible to retrieve information about absolutely anyone," says security expert Mr Liam Brady.
Mr Brady is often employed by big corporate bodies to root out the perpetrators of fraud. He claims a 100 per cent success rate and his boast that he can find "anything, anywhere in the universe" is unnerving. It suggests that no matter how secure our electronic dealings are made, there will always be gaps in the fence.
"At the end of the day, it is impossible to stay off all computers but the public should be aware that they can exercise a high degree of control over their data," says Mr Michael O'Donovan of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. He says more people are becoming interested in this area. The office got 1700 calls in 1996.
Computers are watching you but who is watching the computers, asks a leaflet from the commissioner. Under the Data Protection Act of 1988, citizens were given certain rights but many people are unaware of them 10 years on, according to Mr O'Donovan.
For example, all data controllers agencies who keep data - are obliged to give people access to any information kept on computer about them. Unwanted mail can be stopped by having your name removed from direct marketing lists. The subject of the data is also entitled to compensation if he suffers damage through "mishandling of information about you on computer".
Most calls to the Commissioner were from citizens turned down when applying for a credit card. "People are told they are a bad risk so they come to us and we tell them that under the Act they are able to get details of the credit rating and any other information that is held on them," says Mr O'Donovan.
There will be much to concern anyone who values their privacy in the new millennium. A form of ID card and a personal public service number have been mooted by the Government. The number will be used in transactions with everything from local authorities to An Post - making our day-to-day activities even easier to trace.
Telecom Eireann plans to introduce Caller ID, a system which has been in operation in Britain and the US for some time now. Caller ID shows a call's recipient the number from which the call is being made. Phone customers can also dial a three-digit number to discover who called when they were out. In America, the situation has escalated. Privacy paranoia means half the phone numbers in California are unlisted.
And if you really value your privacy, it would be wise not to move to Ennis, Co Clare. From September, cash will be made virtually redundant in the Information Age Town with people using electronic purses for a range of small-value transactions.
Imagine, eventually records of every purchase from a pound of tomatoes to a copy of Playboy will slip silently into a database. Oh well, anything for an easy life.
