The Blog Thing

I’ve been thinking about writing about this for while now and when I heard it again today, I decided it was time.

So what did I hear? Well, to be short: “I don’t need privacy, because I’ve got nothing to hide.”.

Although I can understand the reasoning, it’s very shortsighted in my opinion.

First off all, privacy is a constitutional right, at least where I live. Privacy is not about hiding anything you’re not supposed to do, it’s about respect and maintaining dignity.

Second, if you’ve got nothing to hide, there’s no need to violate your privacy, is there?

Third, you might have nothing to hide now, because your government thinks what you’re doing is OK and really won’t use all that data they have on you against you.
But suppose in five or ten years from now a different government thinks radically different? Suddenly the things you consider to be lawfull now, are outlawed. Will you still be so pleased you gave up your given right to privacy?

So next time, carefully consider all angles before giving up any right you have, OK?

Want to read more? There’s an exelent article on the value of privacy here.