Privacy and accountability - Who would privacy laws serve best?

TWO decades ago billionaire New York hotel operator Leona Helmsley coined a phrase that has outlived her.

During trials for tax dodging and other crimes a housekeeper testified she had heard Helmsley say: “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes ...”

An Irish variation of that stinging indictment might be “we don’t do accountability. Only the little people are accountable.”