Privacy is still important -- it's just that other things have become more important since Sept. 11, says Richard Smith, who has become a leading researcher on how technology invades our privacy. Smith, 47, is leaving his post as chief technology . . .

Privacy is still important -- it's just that other things have become more important since Sept. 11, says Richard Smith, who has become a leading researcher on how technology invades our privacy. Smith, 47, is leaving his post as chief technology officer at the Denver-based Privacy Foundation and shifting his research focus to computer security.

"For most people, after Sept. 11, safety went way up as a priority and privacy went way down," Smith says. People "are more tolerant of government surveillance because we're more concerned about safety." The current atmosphere, he adds, also makes it difficult to be in the business of warning people about the erosion of privacy. The new anti-terrorism bill, for example, has been criticized by civil libertarians, but the fact that the act passed shows that, right now, "you're probably going to lose the battles" to protect privacy.

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