The Right to Privacy

Do We The People have any serious expectation of privacy or respect for the privacy of others in the United States today? I don't know about anyone else, but I do on both counts. I'll take it a step further here: Does a man that calls an escort service have an expectation of privacy? Should any business that he conducts with the escort and the agency be private?

Today it is all gossip fodder for the media. I owned the second escort service in the world that was on the internet and conducted business in conservative Orlando for 10 years. Is there anyone that thinks that public officials and Hollywood celebrities didn't use my agency when they stayed at Disney resorts? If you can answer "yes" to that I'd love to talk to you about some land for sale out in the Everglades.

When I testified in my defense at my trial, the prosecutor drilled me for most of an entire day, and one of his many questions was: "What are some names of clients that called your business?" My answer was that I didn't remember any names, and that was true – as I sat there on the stand, facing up to 60 years in a Florida prison and nearing the end of week two of the trial, and frazzled beyond imagination, I didn't recall any names. You see, I barbequed the client lists long before the day they banged down my door, and I did admit that on the stand. When asked why I would do such a thing, the answer was simple: Such lists could never help me, the escorts, or the clients, so why keep them. My business never accepted credit cards, or wire transfers, so there were no bank records either.

The policy at my agency was that the client remained private whether he wanted to or not. Why would any man use a credit card for escort services or do a wire transfer to the business? In my opinion, he'd have to be lacking in the intelligence department, or have nothing whatsoever to lose. So what was Elliot Spitzer's excuse? The man had everything to lose and was all too aware of how those investigations and prosecutions work.

Today a booker from the Emperors Club spoke about Spitzer in open court during her sentencing. The man has become total gossip fodder in the media, especially with all of the personal and private encounters revealed by Kristin, the newly-named Manhattan Madam. I think that Ashley Dupre is the only one that hasn't spoke publicly about him, and for that she earns my respect – she took the money and in doing so became ethically bound to an unspoken agreement of privacy. But what do I know? The Manhattan Madam is selling plenty of books and I'm not. My book is an actual story, not gossip, and reveals no client secrets. This in itself reveals the answer to the initial question. There is no expectation of privacy in the United States today, and the people rather enjoy seeing the right to privacy go by the wayside. After all is said and done our lives should be open books, right?