More on the Privacy Thing

From 1/29/08 post on Boing Boing:http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/28/security-vs-privacy.html

Security vs. Privacy is really Control vs. Liberty

Posted by Cory Doctorow, January 28, 2008 10:41 PM permalink

Security expert Bruce Schneier has a stirring editorial about the "false dichotomy of 'security versus privacy'" -- people who push for reduced privacy don't want more security, they want more control.

The debate isn't security versus privacy. It's liberty versus control.

You can see it in comments by government officials: "Privacy no longer can mean anonymity," says Donald Kerr, principal deputy director of national intelligence. "Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information." Did you catch that? You're expected to give up control of your privacy to others, who -- presumably -- get to decide how much of it you deserve. That's what loss of liberty looks like.

It should be no surprise that people choose security over privacy: 51 to 29 percent in a recent poll. Even if you don't subscribe to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it's obvious that security is more important. Security is vital to survival, not just of people but of every living thing. Privacy is unique to humans, but it's a social need. It's vital to personal dignity, to family life, to society -- to what makes us uniquely human -- but not to survival.