Terrorism takes toll on privacy worldwide. (Up front: news, trends & analysis).

Privacy has become an unwitting victim of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and the subsequent war on terrorism. But privacy is not just in danger in the United States. According to a recent report by privacy activist organizations Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International, many countries have passed new laws that value increased security over personal privacy. In addition to U.S. laws, the report lists new anti-terrorism legislation in Australia, Austria, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Singapore, and Sweden.

Many of the laws, the report notes, have been proposed and rejected for years, only to gain acceptance after the September 11, 2001, attacks. As a result, governments worldwide have made it easier for authorities to expand citizen databases and eavesdrop on telephone and online conversations under the auspices of fighting terrorism. For example, U.S. anti-terror legislation lowered the bar on authorities' surveillance requirements.

In June, the European Union allowed its member states to require that Internet providers retain traffic and location data of all people using any electronic communications device, including mobile phones, faxes, e-mail, and the Internet. The Russian internal security service recently tried to order all Internet providers to install surveillance software, at the company's cost, so that police could perform instant searches without a warrant. There also is increased interest in personal surveillance through biometrics technology and spy cameras. In Britain, there are an estimated 1.5 million cameras that watch public streets and parks.

The report also found that governments want to merge their existing databases, such as those for social programs and traffic infractions, to create profiles to catch suspected terrorists. These actions have dismayed privacy advocates, who fear free speech restrictions and abuses of power.

A bipartisan report by some of the United States' leading information technology and national security experts recommended that the Bush administration develop a system to share intelligence gathered in the United States and abroad among local, state, and federal agencies while developing guidelines to protect against abuses. The 173-page report, "Protecting America's Freedom in an Information Age," outlines a road map for establishing truly national, decentralized information systems that would both protect privacy and prevent terror. It endorses giving responsibility for analyzing such information to a new domestic intelligence center in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rather than to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The study also calls upon Bush to develop new guidelines on what information federal agencies may and may not collect about individuals in the United States and with whom, and under what circumstances, such data may be shared.

Despite such proposals, most experts say that privacy post-9/11 will never be the same in any country.