Let me explain why I ask this. I very recently lost a very good online friend in america. I decided to do a little research online on my friend because I realised after thinking about things, that there were some inconsistencies in what he did and what he said. In short, because my friend has a criminal record because of an incident of assault, I was able to find out his home address, tel number, exactly what he was charged with and his punishment in less than 3 minutes of googling. I was also able to find out so many details about my friends father, like he is a democrat, how much he has paid in property taxes in the last few years, even what their house is currently valued at (By God, American houses are unbelievably cheap - its ridiculous). I find it horrifying living in England, that so much information can be found out about people in America just by using google. In England, I would never be able to get that information particularly the criminal record details. Here if you want to check a person's criminal record, you have to have my consent to do a criminal record check on me as there is only one place that you can search for a criminal record and you are required by law to obtain my consent. The lack of privacy in America truly astonishes me - its mind boggling what you can find out about people in the US. I am so glad that living in England its really hard to find out anything about me, because you can opt out of just about everything, eg telephone directories, your details on the electoral register can be made private etc.
On a slightly separate but similar question, is it normal for Americans to have no fences or walls around their property. My friend's house and neighbours have no fences or walls. I would hate to barbecue in the back yard without any feeling of privacy as I don't like people peering into my back yard. For the record, I grew up in South Africa and properties are far more private there than even England.Do americans value privacy at all?
Yes we can opt out of most everything ourselves but most of the new generation doesn't bother. The older generation still maintains a certain paranoia of big government... As far as fences, in different parts of the country you will see fences or not see fences. I live in Buffalo, NY and every yard is fenced. Seems like in the cities we like fences but in more rural areas, not so much.
Happy Holidays!Do americans value privacy at all?
No, we really don't. At least the current generation doesn't and the government is not helping, now that reading all your emails without a warrant is legal.
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