Privacy Book's Hidden Arguments

ANITA ALLEN STARTS her book by claiming that people do not care enough about their privacy, and that, in limited circumstances, the government should force people to keep information private that they would rather discloseâ??what she calls â??unpopular privacy.â? Such laws already exist for children, who are protected from websites that seek information from them, but have not been extended to adults. But adults blunder, too; and so the question arises whether the government should force individuals to keep intimate information private so that they do not later regret its disclosure. An affirmative answer might make people uneasy, especially liberals and libertarians, who do not believe that the government should act paternalistically. Allen sets herself the task of defending what she calls a type of â??modest paternalismâ? where â??unpopular privacyâ? is mandated.