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I think it was Isaac Asimov who wrote an article once speculating on a future utopia where there would be total information freedom and transparency - everyone

I think it was Isaac Asimov who wrote an article once speculating on a future utopia where there would be total information freedom and transparency - everyone would know everything about everyone's movements. You could see why it would be appealing - how could there be crime if you knew where everyone was at all times? No body could cheat on their spouse, no child would ever go missing. Seems hopelessly naive now of course but you can see how it would work as a thought experiment. In reality there'll always be a protected class who get to hide their movements.

SamBam 4y ago
I do expect the Right to Privacy will be brought up again to the Supreme Court as a result of making use of location history sometime in the next five years. Indeed, I believe the first use of the "Right to Privacy" was by a lawyer and Louis Brandeis, and future Supreme Court Justice, upset that a journalist had written that one of them attended a wedding. Depending on who brings to suit, I expect it's likely that even the conservative justices will suddenly agree with a right to privacy.
tialaramex 4y ago
> No body could cheat on their spouse Nobody could cheat secretly. They'd still cheat. The framing story in my favourite comic issue "Winter's Tale" has more or less exactly this be scenario, "I was going to tell you" he says. The people in Winter's Tale and most of that run (Gaiman's Golden Age of Miracleman) live in a utopia, but they're still people and they still cheat and lie. The larger point of the story is that children won't fill a hole in your heart.
brabel 4y ago
Which world would you prefer? A world where not a single crime would go unpunshied, and hence serious crime would probably disappear forever, but with the risk of the Government or criminals (would they still exist??) abusing the data for their own advantage? Or a world as we have today where a lot of crime happens everywhere and where a criminal just needs to be smart enough to never get caught? I am not sure the answer is as straightforward as everyone seems to think here. I think I would be willing to at least run an experiment about this (perhaps China is already doing it).
Cthulhu_ 4y ago
Naive indeed; on the surface it sounds utopian. But who decides what a crime is? That's where it quickly flips over into becoming a dystopia. I mean, for example homosexuality is still a crime punishable by death in a lot of places; if you cannot hide that, then a lot of people would be picked up. Your last point is exactly poignant; it'll be lawmakers who end up above the law, above the control. Which makes it more like 1984 than a "borg" utopia.
- nearbuy 4y ago
  Your point boils down to privacy is good because it lets people get away with crime and laws might be bad. The solution shouldn't be to make crimes easier to hide. It's to legalize homosexuality.
Tozen 4y ago
Good points. Those who don't have their information exposed, are those with power. They know everything about you, but you know nothing about them, or even how much access to your life that they have.

SamBam 4y ago

I do expect the Right to Privacy will be brought up again to the Supreme Court as a result of making use of location history sometime in the next five years. Indeed, I believe the first use of the "Right to Privacy" was by a lawyer and Louis Brandeis, and future Supreme Court Justice, upset that a journalist had written that one of them attended a wedding. Depending on who brings to suit, I expect it's likely that even the conservative justices will suddenly agree with a right to privacy.

tialaramex 4y ago

> No body could cheat on their spouse Nobody could cheat secretly. They'd still cheat. The framing story in my favourite comic issue "Winter's Tale" has more or less exactly this be scenario, "I was going to tell you" he says. The people in Winter's Tale and most of that run (Gaiman's Golden Age of Miracleman) live in a utopia, but they're still people and they still cheat and lie. The larger point of the story is that children won't fill a hole in your heart.

brabel 4y ago

Which world would you prefer? A world where not a single crime would go unpunshied, and hence serious crime would probably disappear forever, but with the risk of the Government or criminals (would they still exist??) abusing the data for their own advantage? Or a world as we have today where a lot of crime happens everywhere and where a criminal just needs to be smart enough to never get caught? I am not sure the answer is as straightforward as everyone seems to think here. I think I would be willing to at least run an experiment about this (perhaps China is already doing it).

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

Naive indeed; on the surface it sounds utopian. But who decides what a crime is? That's where it quickly flips over into becoming a dystopia. I mean, for example homosexuality is still a crime punishable by death in a lot of places; if you cannot hide that, then a lot of people would be picked up. Your last point is exactly poignant; it'll be lawmakers who end up above the law, above the control. Which makes it more like 1984 than a "borg" utopia.

nearbuy 4y ago
Your point boils down to privacy is good because it lets people get away with crime and laws might be bad. The solution shouldn't be to make crimes easier to hide. It's to legalize homosexuality.

Tozen 4y ago

Good points. Those who don't have their information exposed, are those with power. They know everything about you, but you know nothing about them, or even how much access to your life that they have.