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Privacy is also about solidarity with those who do have something to hide. We want to create a society with herd immunity for dissidents, free thinkers, and eve

Privacy is also about solidarity with those who do have something to hide. We want to create a society with herd immunity for dissidents, free thinkers, and even the less controversial yet somehow still controversial; fetishists, (closet) non-traditional-sexuals, or simply those who engage in behaviour that we have only learned to condone, not yet accept. Even if you are not any of those, it is our duty to provide a thicket where the free canaries can hide from the harsh environment. When they die, we best pay close attention. Saying “I don’t care about privacy because I have nothing to hide” is uniquely selfish, on the level of “I don’t care about gay marriage because I’m not gay.”

xpil 8y ago
I can't upvote this enough.
new2626 8y ago
I think your second quoted sentence is a perfectly fine attitude. You have to pick your fights and caring about every possible issue that may affect every possible person is a road down to insanity. (I say this while I agree with your post otherwise.)
- Spearchucker 8y ago
  His quote doesn't suggest you care about gay marriage. It suggests caring about PRIVACY because for example (amongst many other examples he didn't mention) gay marriage.
futterz 8y ago
> We want to create a society with herd immunity for dissidents, free thinkers, and even the less controversial yet somehow still controversial And yet y'all can't even do that on HN. Downvote, dead, flag, toe the line. I've got this feeling that before we all codified "free speech" as a "right", people in very "backward" places were doing it and getting along. Different opinions, different ideas, and people are friendly, for eons in Morocco, in Egypt. Maybe white Western culture had to put it into "law" because for whatever reason we weren't so good at doing it naturally.
mostlysimilar 8y ago
Several months ago I came across a website dedicated to sharing this mindset--that privacy, even if you have nothing to hide, is good for society and lets people break out of restrictive norms. I haven't been able to find it again despite a pretty long search. Do you happen to know the site I'm talking about?
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  That's a key principe behind Tor.

xpil 8y ago

I can't upvote this enough.

new2626 8y ago

I think your second quoted sentence is a perfectly fine attitude. You have to pick your fights and caring about every possible issue that may affect every possible person is a road down to insanity. (I say this while I agree with your post otherwise.)

Spearchucker 8y ago
His quote doesn't suggest you care about gay marriage. It suggests caring about PRIVACY because for example (amongst many other examples he didn't mention) gay marriage.

futterz 8y ago

> We want to create a society with herd immunity for dissidents, free thinkers, and even the less controversial yet somehow still controversial And yet y'all can't even do that on HN. Downvote, dead, flag, toe the line. I've got this feeling that before we all codified "free speech" as a "right", people in very "backward" places were doing it and getting along. Different opinions, different ideas, and people are friendly, for eons in Morocco, in Egypt. Maybe white Western culture had to put it into "law" because for whatever reason we weren't so good at doing it naturally.

mostlysimilar 8y ago

Several months ago I came across a website dedicated to sharing this mindset--that privacy, even if you have nothing to hide, is good for society and lets people break out of restrictive norms. I haven't been able to find it again despite a pretty long search. Do you happen to know the site I'm talking about?

dredmorbius 8y ago
That's a key principe behind Tor.