I wish people would stop legitimizing the idea that privacy is about hiding embarrassing things. Privacy is more important than the fear of your neighbors findi

I wish people would stop legitimizing the idea that privacy is about hiding embarrassing things. Privacy is more important than the fear of your neighbors finding your copy of Maxim, but this strategy of sending Congress embarrassing details neglects that. It's vulnerable to the "but I have nothing to hide!" objection. To quote something I have written elsewhere on the Internet: Giving the government the power to read your email, tap your phone, and record your porn usage isn't bad simply because it's embarrassing. After all, the data will likely only be seen by a computer. But it gives the government enormous power to make decisions about you -- decisions about whether you may take a commercial airline flight, get a security clearance, or even get a job -- without your knowledge or consent, and without you knowing how they make the decisions. In short, a lack of privacy gives the government the power to be even less transparent in its decision-making, and gives it yet more power over its citizens. It's not a question of discovering your fetishes or being embarrassed, and we shouldn't respond to the "nothing to hide" argument as though their conception of privacy is right and having nothing to hide really is an excuse. There's a rather good paper I can recommend on the subject: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565