Civil Liberties

Google's Vint Cerf: Privacy May Actually Be An Anomaly

One of the internet's original architects

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One of the original architects of the Internet wants to remind us that privacy is a relatively new concept. "Privacy is something which has emerged out of the urban boom coming from the industrial revolution," said Google's Chief Internet Evangelist and a lead engineer on the Army's early 1970?s Internet prototype, ARPANET. As a result, 'privacy may actually be an anomaly," he told a gathering of the Federal Trade Commission.

Looking back at history, Cerf is mostly right.