Privacy Goes Public: From TB to Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll

Surveillance is the radar of public health. Without it, virtually no public health action would be possible. Yet surveillance holds out not only the promise of disease control, but also the spectre of the loss of privacy and even liberty. Consquently, it has been challenged since the modern era of reporting began with tuberculosis notification. Yet the debates were limited to public health professionals and physicians. Despite the enduring tension between privacy and surveillance, a remarkable transformation occurred between the late 19th century and the 1970s: The public entered the policy debates in a powerful way. Cancer, occupational diseases, birth defects, HIV: all would be marked by active public engagement in the politics of surveillance.