The issue of data privacy is often reduced to secure data transactions by cryptographic techniques. However, in a liberal democracy the issue of privacy connects to fundamental questions about the co-existence and collaboration between its citizens. One is the conflict between self-interest and the interest of the commons, whereby research on privacy topics is found in distant and disparate research streams. Sharing of data perceived as private may drastically increase collective welfare, while reducing it for single citizens. In this chapter, we present a metaphor to highlight the fundamentals of privacy and explain how the access to new data-processing technologies provokes new questions to be addressed. Furthermore, we illustrate how various research streams differ in presumptions and privacy topics of interest, and we stress the potential knowledge-producing value of bridging these streams. We end by pointing out some particularly interesting research venues for privacy and data. © Jay Liebowitz 2021.