Guest LilBambi Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide' - Chronicle.com When the government gathers or analyzes personal information, many people say they're not worried. "I've got nothing to hide," they declare. "Only if you're doing something wrong should you worry, and then you don't deserve to keep it private." The nothing-to-hide argument pervades discussions about privacy. The data-security expert Bruce Schneier calls it the "most common retort against privacy advocates." The legal scholar Geoffrey Stone refers to it as an "all-too-common refrain." In its most compelling form, it is an argument that the privacy interest is generally minimal, thus making the contest with security concerns a foreordained victory for security. The nothing-to-hide argument is everywhere. In Britain, for example, the government has installed millions of public-surveillance cameras in cities and towns, which are watched by officials via closed-circuit television. In a campaign slogan for the program, the government declares: "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear." Variations of nothing-to-hide arguments frequently appear in blogs, letters to the editor, television news interviews, and other forums. One blogger in the United States, in reference to profiling people for national-security purposes, declares: "I don't mind people wanting to find out things about me, I've got nothing to hide! Which is why I support [the government's] efforts to find terrorists by monitoring our phone calls!" So much more in the article and ever so much more relevant today even than when it was written in 2011. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Too bad I can only like your post once. This should have been a 10 Like post at least. Sadly, no one will listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. But I can keep putting it in our faces and hope some rubs off on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 The American people are kept ignorant, fed, and distracted. That's the way Big Bro want it, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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