Privacy from a Historical Perspective

Privacy has never been a major topic for historians. After the first publication of a study on the concept of privacy in colonial history in 1972, it took another 44 years before David Vincent published the first monograph on the history of privacy. However, over the last twenty years privacy has received more attention of historians, especially in an attempt to historicize growing concerns about modern surveillance techniques. This has indeed provided new insights into contemporary challenges as well as the history of privacy, for example that privacy has had different meanings and as an ideal came into existence under specific historical circumstances. Moreover, over the last 30 years concerns of privacy and privacy regulations have influenced the profession of historians.