The Rise and Fall of Privacy

Available exclusively toPSsubscribers,PS Deep Divesnewsletter delivers a weekly expert commentary examining a critical facet of a major global challenge. Each collection runs for several weeks, allowing readers to step back from the daily churn of headlines and gain a deeper understanding of the forces driving the news. Privacy is not a natural phenomenon, but rather a historical achievement. It emerged after the Reformation and the wars of religion that followed, reached a high point during the Victorian era, and has now been eroding for decades, long before the advent of the digital economy, social media, and AI. LONDON—In the 17th century, a common injunction held that you should “do nothing privately that you would not do publicly. Task yourself, lest privacy becomes your enemy.” Going further, one preacher evenwarnedthat privacy was for “adulterers and murderers.” The devil comes to you when you are on your own. You should find it reassuring to be watched.