The Chronicle of Higher Education - Latest Comments in Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Roy Antley — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 13:44:35 -0000

This is the best written advocacy I have seen on privacy in a very, very long time. Well done, sir!

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

michael — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:36:51 -0000

Safety from terrorists (What the Patriot Act has given us some 24 times) is more important than safety from telemarketers.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

disqus_VP253mBYuw — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 01:39:09 -0000

Except for when they sell your information and telemarketers call your home phone and cell phone incessantly even though you are on National "Do Not Call" list. Nice to own a gun but you can't shoot robot telemarketers thru the phone as much as I wish I could. Dang-I guess privacy might matter!

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 18:33:26 -0000

Difference is: Those jews had no guns. As long as I have my 2nd amendment rights I don't give a dang about the government reading my mail & neither should you. Don't worry so much.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 18:32:00 -0000

As long as I have my 2nd amendment rights I don't give a dang about the government reading my mail & neither should you.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 18:31:31 -0000

As long as I have my 2nd amendment rights I don't give a dang about the government reading my mail & neither should you. Don't worry so much.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 18:29:54 -0000

As long as I have my 2nd amendment rights I don't give a dang about the government reading my mail & neither should you. Don't worry so much. 'Privacy" is just a synonym for "hiding embarrassing secrets".

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 18:28:26 -0000

As long as I have my 2nd amendment rights I don't give a dang about the government reading my mail & neither should you. Don't worry so much.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

agnesdomini — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 01:43:57 -0000

An excellent article, and quite on point. In fact, the most compelling reason to reject the "nothing to hide" defense is provided in the opening sentence of this piece: "When the government gathers or analyzes personal information, many people say they're not worried." The key term herein is "the government"; why? Because the government is ALwAYS other people, regardless of the period in history or the country or empire or territory in which it exists. Get in the habit of thinking "Other people" every time you see the words government, state, city, court, etc., and then see how you feel about whatever is being proposed. Re-considered the opening sentence if written "When OTHER PEOPLE gather [personal] information [about you] or when STRANGERS analyze personal information [about you]," I suspect the hackles go up on the necks of a few of the more astute readers. Government is always other people, and strangers, at that; is it ever in your best interests to follow a practice which allow strangers to make decisions on your behalf and in your interests? Do you leave your children in just anyone's care? Do you ask total strangers to hold your wallet or purse for you when you are grocery shopping? Do you hand your house and car keys to strangers walking down the street on your block?

It is crucial to bear in mind that OTHER PEOPLE are just that---people, and people have hidden agendas or make honest mistakes, or are not in a position to fully grasp the particulars of YOUR situation and any mitigating factors. Don't care that other people IN POWER to exert THEIR wills and intentions over yours have seemingly innocuous information about you? Three things must be considered per this dangerous position being adopted.

(1) Aaron Levenstein has stated :" Statistics are like bikinis; what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." The lesson here is that strangers in power with access to information about you NEVER have the complete picture, thus their decisions ALWAYS will be based on a distorted and incomplete perception of you.

(2) If you have seen the movie "Pi" (not "Life of "Pi," but the one with the mathematical symbol as its title), you will recall that the central character (a mathematical genius) was warned by his mentor that once a seed is planted in the mind to look for a particular pattern, one will begin to see it everywhere, even at the expense of noticing other important signs because the focus has been shifted to detecting the singular pattern at the expense of discovering others. For a literary example, when I began my initial course work for the first of my three graduate degrees, I was assigned the task of reading James Joyce's "Ulysses," which the instructor informed the class on the first day of the semester was a novel concerned with a young man (Stephen Daedalus) in search of a father figure (Leopold Bloom). Being somewhat older than my peers, in my early thirties, I knew enough to disregard his assessment and engage the text directly, in order to discern for myself what stood out most for me, ignoring his seed; in truth, my final estimation was that the text dealt more with an older man seeking a son-figure, given the void in his own life following the premature death of his own young boy. The lesson herein is that the focus of strangers might be skewed when examining and analyzing the data these strangers have collected about your personal life, and there is real danger in their having POWER to use it over and against you. Other people are people, and people have prejudices, biases, and blind-spots in their thinking, which doubtless impacts what they focus on and how they might interpret the information they have gathered about you.

The first danger involves you being judged by a disfigured statistical representation of your life and person, and the second danger involves you being judged by a disfigured perception of your life and person, even if accurately portrayed by the data.

The third crucial point to consider is this. because government is ALWAYS other people, and because people are ALWAYS flawed (even with the noblest of intentions, as many misguided eugenicists and social reformers have been), that which is considered illegal is ALWAYS in danger of changing, thus conduct which you and other people might esteem to be innocuous and desirable today easily can be outlawed and considered dangerous and undesirable tomorrow. (One more reason why the Kafka text is a perfect object lesson.) The thing to remember about desire is that it is ALWAYS subjective, thus other people--TOTAL STRANGERS-- who are wont to have capricious natures (as do we all), if coupled with power (and knowledge IS power) to exert THEIR desires over you, pose the greatest of threats to you, because you are ALWAYS going to be in the dark about their motives and their moves until it is too late. Lives lived per the whimsy of strangers does NOT square with a representative, republican government, and the loss of control ,proper interpretation, and utility of personal information collected about you BY OTHER PEOPLE is no way to live; it is an invitation to be ruled by a shadow government, regardless of traditional party affiliation.

“Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix.” Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), from Plain Speaking, Merle Miller. Quoted in The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, edited by Antony Jay (Oxford University Press: New York, 1996)

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

glorybe2 — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 23:48:44 -0000

Much of the tribulations we have suffered involved deep paranoia of the Soviet Union and an equal paranoia by the US. But here is the kicker. The US actually invaded Russia about 1919 and you can research that under the battle of Archangel. We have troops buried on Russian soil. We sacrificed our troops in an experiment to see how far they could penetrate into Russia. These troops were really not supposed to survive. It was simply an experiment to see how far out soldiers could penetrate before they were wiped out. One might conclude that the Soviets had a legitimate fear of the US as the Russians never invaded US soil.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

glorybe2 — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 23:41:09 -0000

I do think both the plus and minus points of privacy vs. total surveillance need to be studied. Our economy and political system might be far better off if every word we spoke or wrote was wide open for all to see. Just imagine politicians trying to lie or people trying to lie in court or hide income or avoid taxation. Or how about drugs that
would save endless lives being shelved just because they actually cure an illness? Whether it is for cancer patients or diabetics or many other conditions there is a fortune in selling drugs that simply prolong misery and are not intended to cure anything.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

hardasdolomite — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 20:54:58 -0000

Here, you're onto something. The "unit cost of destruction" is indeed falling logarithmically although at a slower rate than Moore's law (this is true of technology in general has from time immemorial, but with different slopes on a logarithmic graph for different technologies.) We aren't yet at the point where people can 3D print a thermonuclear warhead, or super-potent virus. Nowhere near. I think we've jumped the gun by a couple of centuries by adopting a police state (that will incidentally impede creativity and innovation), but if you're closer to the truth, perhaps only by a few decades.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

hardasdolomite — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 20:44:52 -0000

This was decided long ago, re telephone communications, after prohibition police followed precisely your logic and started to intercept any call they wished to. The US supreme court profoundly disagreed with the prohibition police and put a stop to the practice of warrantless interception of telephone calls.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

hardasdolomite — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 20:39:45 -0000

If you happen to attend the "wrong" demonstration (however legal), and if - despite obvious security officials in the distance with directional microphones - a person you don't actually know says something to you that's really exciting or mentions illegal acts, you may find out in a very practical way, why your not having anything to hide is immaterial.

The real question turns out to be... Do your friends - any of them - have anything to hide?

Because, your friends will be told, during police interrogations, that you ratted them out about matters they foolishly talked to you about over the phone (months after that demonstration.) The police aren't going to reveal who is and isn't under telephone surveillance, and they're allowed to lie during interrogations, as anyone who's watched a cop show, knows. But your friends will believe the police, will cut you out of their lives, and never realize that it was secret police surveillance that turned them in, not you.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

glorybe2 — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:43:33 -0000

It worked both ways. We had mandatory black outs as well as hanging black blankets over our windows to avoid being bombed. Having a light bulb in view during an alert was a serious crime. Cars had the head lights painted black with only a thin strip showing light on the road. We also had very strict tire and gasoline rationing so people avoided driving as much as possible or shared rides to the store or work. I was a baby in 1944 and my family even kept my milk coupons. Milk for babies was rationed just like other items.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

glorybe2 — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:39:23 -0000

During the Cuban Missile crises Western union carried military traffic for the admiralty. Many war ships were stationed or supplied at the port in Ft. Lauderdale. I was a motorcycle messenger at 16 and carried messages to various high ranking officers on the ships. At one point they marched me to the ship with guards with M-1 rifles at my back. The warehouses were loaded with military supplies and they were scared of sabotage such as running my motorcycle into a ware house and setting off explosives or starting fires. It was a pain in the chops as one could walk a mile or two to reach a ship and then the deck officer would point a 45 Colt at my face as I came up the plank to hand him the messages.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

glorybe2 — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:34:08 -0000

I think that you can bet that almost all of your communications are being studied. In the past there was only so much harm a man could do. These days a dedicated individual could kill millions acting by himself. For example many advanced biology students could create a super bug or Satan bug as they are sometimes called in the movies. How about some nut merging HIV with anthrax or polio and letting the bug lose on the world?

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

glorybe2 — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:29:43 -0000

When you choose to speak to another person they can repeat your speech at will. Their will counts as much as your will or intentions. Privacy ends when communication exists. That is why some government employees can never talk shop to their wives or anyone else for that matter.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Frank J Poppie — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 18:57:57 -0000

Depending on the political climate and the powers that be at any given time anything no matter how absurd may be against the "law". Don't protect me from myself if this is really my life.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Frank J Poppie — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 18:47:26 -0000

Only that which is kept to oneself is secret not private my friend other wise every and all communication is to be exposed without regard. All our words spoken or written are directed by choice to be received by one or by many depending on our personal choice. My words stem from my thoughts my thoughts originate from my personal experience you are not me I have the option to share or not to share my life experience.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

margaret Bartley — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 13:23:10 -0000

I know many people who claim they have nothing to hide, but they won't use their real names when they post to the internet. They won't sign a petition for fear of being put on a list. They harbor the false security that if they do nothing to piss off the authorities, they will be safe.

Yet it is easy to point out to them that upon a little reflection, they will be surprised how much their quality of life depends upon the sunshine activities of whistle-blowers, activists, investigative reporters. If we did not have those, if the people in power knew they could do anything without fear of being exposed, our quality of life would suffer tremendously.

You and I may have nothing to fear - we dutifully go to work every day, heads down, doing what we are told, being good little sheep, and thus, we assume, safe from take-down. But we have an absolute responsibility to protect those who would challenge the misuse of power, who would expose embezzler, the cheater and liar, those who misuse the public trust, and those who twist and subvert power.

The reason our Overlords like surveillance is to protect themselves from being exposed.

If you think it is to protect us from "terrorists", look up "false flag" in a search engine, and quit being so naive.

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Darpa — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 03:28:43 -0000

Covert Darpa Raymond Released Info To Impeach President Obama
Howard Raymond Stated Darpa Info Release Impeached Barack and he can release anything he wants and torture people like me because he is Darpa, Gov. Obama Immune to make and change laws and get off any crime.

Barack Obama President Of World DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).There is a Darpa and a Covert Darpa.

Porn Billionaire Howard Raymond gave me all of this drunk on gin and tortures me, he cries hew wants to die no one likes him?
I wanted no part of this US Gov. Obama Microwave Research On Public harassment torture, Howard under Covert Darpa David Thornton under Jay Leno Cell Service Online or Cell Phone Microwave eye micro program implant USA. Howard is gay and mentally damaged in Thornton's Covert CA. Darpa Agency. Howard said he tortures his Virtuagirl.com, Paulraymond.com members 24 hrs a day and loves it more than anything. Billionaire Howard W. Raymond Or Howard Quinn 72310 Blueridge, Ct., Palm Desert, CA 92260 takes all his hate for mankind all out on members . Howard needs an exorcist and hospital real bad Obama. I don't want to post 4 more years about your Micro Agents!

Unbelievable Unless You Have One With Voice. An Advanced Alien Technology Darpa Online Right Retina Eye Program Micro From Your Computer Invisible Alien Tech. Too unbelievable, an invisible online from computer right retina eye optic nerve micro (program-able). They use YKCWB, Wild Blue, Exede, and cell server AT&T with Gov. illegal connections or can micro you with any server. Raymond said his Covert US Darpa Agents use Obama's main micro distributor Jay Leno's Cell Service. Microed you from a porn or Gov. site micro eye program implanted in your right eye retina forms an invisible cam and cell connection using YKCWB. Wild Blue, Exede any online server and ATT or any cell phone server, Agents can view you at any angle, record, harass, microwave torture or sell you at a porn site. Phone micro cell wifi talk to you from an eye micro to your ear live 24 hrs. a day, they are usually silent, no sound you won't know you are microed.

Invisible Advanced Alien Micro Technology DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).
http://inhabitat.com/ibm-an...
http://viclivingston.blogsp...

Land Of The Free!

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Missionfig — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 00:12:37 -0000

True, true and true to Mandela,Dane and Guest. What Bkacksqr says is truly kafkaesque and can surely happen just like in his book the 'Trial'. Austinbarry- from a law enforcement perspective you have a lot to fear. I was accused by a neighbor psychopath of ludicrous things and even that I had 'said' some outlandish things, these are things she reported and law enforcement thought was a valid thing to then record on an official police report. The rumor of this ludicrous statement followed me across the country and back of something that they 'think' I had done and said! What happened? Did the nsa vacuum up these reports from local police into some kind of data base that the dhs maintains and local police depts have access to?

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Guest — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 18:52:33 -0000

Example: It's so nice that the grocery store prints out on the receipt
what food and non-food items are purchased... A single mother of a
teenaged girl, 16 years old, decided to throw a birthday party for her
teen and to invite the mothers of the guests as well. She purchased what
one might think were normal party foods: chips, sodas, and so on. She
also purchased a 30-pack of beer (for the adult mothers also invited).
Two months later she was visited by Dept of Human Resources (Child
Welfare) and the police who placed her under arrest for Child
Endangerment, and her daughter was removed from the home. How did this
happen? The mother had made the cash purchase of beer on the same
transaction as she had made the Food Stamp purchase of food. That
receipt went to the government, where the information was filtered for
negative influences on children. The "findings" were then relayed back
to her Food Stamp caseworker, who filed the charges. The details
(birthday party, parents) were not included in the "data." This woman
was also forced as part of her probation (she was convicted on the
evidence of the receipt) to attend "alcohol education" classes though
she herself was a non-drinker, and was allowed only monthly supervised
visits with her daughter for two years, by which time the daughter
turned 18 and "aged out" of the system.
(I was at the party. We only
found out when the girl stopped coming to school and my daughter found
out what happened. Now, my daughter is super cautious. The adverse
effects spread and impact others.)

Re: Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Jane Dougall — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 05:25:06 -0000

errr these services already exist...