Americans have surrendered virtually all of their privacy and have gotten nothing but wave after wave of new attacks and threats in return. Privacy was just starting to become a major concern and a defined discipline ten years ago. In 2001, no one had ever heard of ChoicePoint, Heartland Payment Systems or even the term data breach. The only expectation of privacy was in one s own home, with the door closed and the shutters pulled. The concept of privacy is a thoroughly modern one.
Source: https://threatpost.com/how-online-privacy-has-become-oxymoron-091211/75640/