scribblings from a deist transhumanist libertarian minarchist citizen soldier

The value of privacy

Posted by Trevor in under other on May 20th, 2006 | View Comments |

Bruce Schneier has a very thought provoking post on why privacy is so important:

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.

How many of us have paused during conversation in the past four-and-a-half years, suddenly aware that we might be eavesdropped on? Probably it was a phone conversation, although maybe it was an e-mail or instant-message exchange or a conversation in a public place. Maybe the topic was terrorism, or politics, or Islam. We stop suddenly, momentarily afraid that our words might be taken out of context, then we laugh at our paranoia and go on. But our demeanor has changed, and our words are subtly altered.

Read the whole thing, because your privacy is under frontal assault. Are you willing to share everything with any government employee who wants it? I’m not willing to have my phone conversations, pillow talk or personal habits judged by random employees of Uncle Sam.

Military life has given me a pretty good idea what to expect if we give government free reign over our lives in the name of “security.” If you aren’t famialiar with a “health & comfort” inspection, make a mental note now. In the military we experience them fairly regularly, depending on the type of duty status. These inspections are basically and excuse to rifle through the personal belongings of soldiers to ensure they don’t have any prohibited items. The list of prohibited items is a long one that would astound and disgust you. Soldiers do not have the same rights that you are supposed to be guarenteed by the Constitution of the United States.

Believe me, there are those in your federal government who would like nothing more than to find an excuse to perform a health & comfort inspection in your home, for “your own good.”

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kitanis

I still believe that if enough people in the United States would complain to their electect representatives... then this kind of pussy footing around with government monitoring daily activties in citizens lives.. would simply stop.

The problem is.. half the population is willing to accept the governments straying from the US Consitution in the name of "fighting terrorism"..

The sheep are asleep.. I wish they would WAKE UP.

I am not a mini anarchist.. but a Libertarian.. I think government should be limited to basic services.. and the rest should be in the private sector.. no matter what the Demorcrats say...

but again.. the sheep are asleep....

Trevor

A minarchist believes in the minimum possible amount of goverment to provide very basic services such as a military to protect against external threats.

A transhumanist believes in using technology to extend the human lifespan and to improve one's own existence. This could take many forms such as having a hip replacement or having a better heart installed, or having your consciousness transferred into an upgraded body (assuming that becomes possible in a few decades or a century).

Elizabeth

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a minarchist? Is it an anarchist, but not quite?

Also, what is a transhumanist?

Trevor

Dale my friend, do you know what's ironic about life? Let me tell you...

We start out life pooping in our pants and those of us who survive long enough end it the same way. All that time and effort put out in between trying to control other people's foibles is silly.

If they aren't trying to kill you and they aren't directly hurting anyone, leave them alone. That's my best advice to anyone who is interested.

Banal rules are meant to be broken because life is too short to spend all your days wading through others people's shit.

Dale

Well, I had to come back and redeem myself after the last posting.

In 4th generational warfare (4g), my understanding is that the aim is to win the war without firing a bullet. One of the weapons in that warfare will be the use of information and the media to develop the beliefs and impressions of the people and the world. Along with that may be the private information we gather about foreign populations and using that information for our own purposes.(i.e., which debt ridden ambassador may be open to being bribed, skeletons in the closet,unknown bad behavior in sons/daughters, etc)
Taking that one step further, should we consider what foreign governments could do with data they acquire on US citizens? If so, what steps should we take to prevent foreigners from acquiring private US citizen information? Perhaps all of our personal financial records, communication, and health records should be encrypted to make it diffcult for our enemies to know anything about us.
Which foreign governments may already have taken steps to access this information about US government personnel for malfeasant purposes?

Dale

A heirarchy exists in life. We start out learning to control our bowels and progress to controlling our mouths, our actions, and our lives. After this we control others or at least try to. When we learn that controlling others sometimes means forcing them to do what we want, we then seek governmental power. Having the Authority to get others to do what we want is sometimes limited by laws and the Constitution.
Then we seek to circumvent, overturn, or ignore the laws to increase our power over others.
...I have just managed to go from controlling our own bowels to fascism in only a few sentences. I must have lost it. Perhaps I need to go phishing (oops, I meant fishing!)