During the last decade, the right to personal privacy has gained the status of a central social value in America. This new emphasis is, of course, related to the long-standing American belief in personal freedom and the basic dignity and worth of the individual. But the more immediate cause has been public anx- iety about the increasing dominance of government, corpo- rations, and other large bureaucratic organizations-and fears of what these organizations may do with the vast amounts of personal...