William Safire reports in the New York Times Book Review on a couple of recent books about privacy -- or, rather, the loss of privacy.

Robert O'Harrow Jr.'s ''No Place to Hide'' might just do for privacy protection what Rachel Carson's ''Silent Spring'' did for environmental protection nearly a half-century ago.

Lisa Haarlander reports for the Buffalo News on higher merchant fees imposed by Visa and MasterCard beginning April 1.

"The way this market works is they try to encourage banks to issue their cards by offering higher fees," said Bill Greer, director of editorial services for the Food Marketing Institute. "The competition is over increasing fees rather than decreasing fees. It's a substantial expense for merchants."