The right to privacy—the right to be let alone—is the most cherished right among civilized peoples. It was the right that gave birth to the American Revolution in opposition to British writs of assistance authoring petty officials to rummage through homes in search of contraband goods.
Anonymous speech is scrupulously protected by the First Amendment. Pseudonyms were used by the venerated authors of the Federalist Papers. Statesman Benjamin Franklin admonished, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
The right to privacy, however, has surrendered to the American empire’s futile quest for a risk-free existence, i.e., former Vice President Dick Cheney’s ill-starred 1% doctrine: Treat as an absolute certainty, like the force of gravity, any minuscule risk that satisfies a 1%…
