Heres the Scoop on Whether to Snoop  By John Taschek  |  Posted
2001-02-19  In just one week, severe damage may have been
inflicted on our personal privacy—or at least on our privacy on
public and private networks. First, it has been widely reported
that a database containing information on world leaders who
attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was
hacked and that personal information was compromised.  Officials
quickly responded that merely a "remnant" database was hacked
and not the official database, slight consolation to those
remnant people storing credit card information in the database.
Of course, ordinary peoples data is hacked all the time—that is,
when its not sold or given away during hostile takeovers and
mergers and acquisitions. This time, however, its world leaders
data at stake, and that means tough laws will probably be
enacted quickly. Tough, quickly enacted laws unfortunately have
bad side effects usually—in this case, the possible loss of
personal rights.  Meanwhile, i