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> Then again, maybe I'm just a paranoid coward. I'm so glad I don't have access to information anybody would be interested in. I agree with everything else you

> Then again, maybe I'm just a paranoid coward. I'm so glad I don't have access to information anybody would be interested in. I agree with everything else you're saying, but I should just point out one thing: It doesn't matter whether or not anybody is interested in your information - especially in this era of en-masse passive data collection, you have the right to your own data, which includes the right not to be snooped on by third parties (governmental or otherwise). It doesn't matter whether or not you "have anything to hide", only whether you have anything you want [voluntarily] to show. </rant>

lifeisstillgood 13y ago
I think "privacy as a right" is a difficult issue. I am down with "not getting tortured" as a right. But privacy is ... a privative. I think a more useful and fruitful direction will be requiring publication of holding of private data, and then we can enforce any number of outcomes.
saraid216 13y ago
Honestly, it's great that you're passionate about the issue, but that doesn't a logical argument make. Privacy is an intuitive concept, but it translates surprisingly poorly to reality. That's not to say privacy doesn't exist or isn't important, but that we don't actually know what it is. Intuition makes for bad law, not least because everyone has different intuitions; it's basically asking, "Why don't programmers just program in English?"
- gknoy 13y ago
  Thankfully, my kids are learning Lisp before English, so at least that let them program more intuitively. (Kidding: ... if only I could. My son doesn't seem interested in it.)
jebeng 13y ago
Do we actually have the right to our own data in America? Or are you just saying we should have the right?
- reeses 13y ago
  It depends on whether you want someone to grant you rights, in which case, they're privileges.
pseut 13y ago
I think you're misreading. "I don't have access to information anybody would be interested in" doesn't mean "I have nothing to hide." It means "I have nothing to leak." I agree with the general statement, though.

lifeisstillgood 13y ago

I think "privacy as a right" is a difficult issue. I am down with "not getting tortured" as a right. But privacy is ... a privative. I think a more useful and fruitful direction will be requiring publication of holding of private data, and then we can enforce any number of outcomes.

saraid216 13y ago

Honestly, it's great that you're passionate about the issue, but that doesn't a logical argument make. Privacy is an intuitive concept, but it translates surprisingly poorly to reality. That's not to say privacy doesn't exist or isn't important, but that we don't actually know what it is. Intuition makes for bad law, not least because everyone has different intuitions; it's basically asking, "Why don't programmers just program in English?"

gknoy 13y ago
Thankfully, my kids are learning Lisp before English, so at least that let them program more intuitively. (Kidding: ... if only I could. My son doesn't seem interested in it.)

jebeng 13y ago

Do we actually have the right to our own data in America? Or are you just saying we should have the right?

reeses 13y ago
It depends on whether you want someone to grant you rights, in which case, they're privileges.

pseut 13y ago

I think you're misreading. "I don't have access to information anybody would be interested in" doesn't mean "I have nothing to hide." It means "I have nothing to leak." I agree with the general statement, though.