Privacy seems stronger now than when I grew up. We had phone books with our name and address in them. Our name was written inside the cover of every library boo

Privacy seems stronger now than when I grew up. We had phone books with our name and address in them. Our name was written inside the cover of every library book we borrowed. Neighbors were more static and knew each other and their families for decades and gossiped about each other. You could obtain a car owner's address from their number-plate by paying a $2.50 fee. After somebody got worried by that, they started also requiring ID as well as the fee. Computer hacking wasn't a crime. Phone calls weren't encrypted - in earlier generations, a lady at the exchange could easily listen in.