Privacy is in the eye of the beholder . From time to time something happens that gives spectacular confirmation of that simple statement. Consider what happened in Italy just few hours ago. "L'agenzia delle entrate", the Italian tax agency, published on their website the all tax declarations filed in Italy in 2006 (story in English here ). It is my understanding that this is perfectly common practice in various countries, like some Scandinavian nations, but in Italy that gesture simply had no precedents. The same data has always been available in paper format in local offices, which of course made impractical (borderline impossible) consulting it, while on the web it perfectly accessible. Surprise surprise, the site crashed for all the accesses and in few hours the "garante della privacy" (an institutional figure who safeguards the right to privacy in Italy) who formally requested the data to be taken down. Too late, of course: they promptly ended up in the P2P circuits, where they'll probably circulate (no pun intended) for the next decennia. Interestingly enough, the law in some sense backs both the decisions of agenzia delle entrate and il garante. One should "assicurare la fruibilità dell'informazione in modalità digitale utilizzando con le modalità più appropriate le tecnologie dell'informazione e della comunicazione", or "ensure the access to the information in digital format, taking advantage in the most suitable ways information & communication technologies"; that Read More...