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From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2008-09-07:
"The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: 'If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?'
...
"Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.
"We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need."
-- Bruce Schneier, "The Eternal Value of Privacy".
[ http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2006/05/70886]
(submitted to the mailing list by Chris Doherty)
(no subject)
And once this information is gathered, what precisely becomes of it? Who has access to it? What will they use it for? The definition of "wrong" becomes increasingly broad at that point. As Mr. Schneier points out, it isn't "wrong" to go to the bathroom or make love, but if it's on YouTube, it could fuck up your reputation, community standing, political career pretty thoroughly without being, in any legal or ethical sense, "wrong".