<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pointman:
The "big taboo" is that here in the US we have an open society, with personal freedoms and privacy that are un-equaled in the "many, many, many, civilized countries you speak of". </font>
Actually, most countries in western Europe have far greater protections for personal privacy than we enjoy in the US. Further, the average European tends to be far aware of personal privacy issues than the average American.