ABSTRACT
The concern over the ever-changing boundaries that divide private from public information has increased in the past 20 years. More than ever, controlling private information is perplexing. Yet, as this volume illustrates, the calculus for balance moderates the ways people are public while remaining private. Doctors believe that knowing intimate information helps their patients become well. Patients want the right to decide who knows test results. Spouses want to both keep secrets and have their partners tell secrets to them, employers want to make salaries public, and employees see their salaries as private information. In every instance, balancing the demands for public revelations with private expectations is a dominant theme. The paradoxical world we live in hampers our ability to manage these often-competing needs.
