How far is privacy a human right? This question has become a issue in Britain and Europe in recent weeks.
One episode that has highlighted the differences between attitudes toward privacy in the United States, France and Britain is the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund and possibly a future president of France.
He was arrested at Kennedy Airport in New York on a charge of attempted rape of a chamber-maid at a hotel in New York. The French public were shocked to see photographs of a disheveled Strauss-Kahn, known as DSK, in handcuffs, later transferred to a notorious New York jail. A grand jury has agreed that DSK should stand trial in New York. He has been granted bail on strict conditions. Even if he is acquitted his political career is almost certainly over. How are the mighty fallen!