While the idea of'privacy' is venerable,1 modern obsessions with privacy are largely rooted in the twentieth century, particularly the years following the Second World War. The precise reasons may vary and changeover time. As any European civilian lawyer will confirm, the European Convention on Human Rights/ with its important provision for security of private life alongside its protection of freedom of expression, was a direct response to the many and varied intrusions on personal integrity that occurred during the war years. In Europe it still represents a bulwark against organised authority, and significantly not only one limited to the authority of the state.