[extropy-chat] internet search privatizer

[spike]

> 
> Spike, did fatherhood change your views on transparency?
> 
> - Jef


Very much so.  My own views on openness were based on my own lack of desire
to hide anything about my life.  I have no interest in prying into other's
privacy, but I have little to hide myself.  I recognize that in this world
there are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons to keep a low profile.  My
son deserves to make his own decisions on how much privacy he wants or
needs.

Regarding transparency, there are many unanswered questions.  Consider for
instance that PGP program that was available free a few years ago.  I
downloaded it and used it to encrypt email perhaps a dozen times.  None of
those cases really needed encryption.   Eventually the site was taken down
and has never returned as far as I know.  The fact is, encryption does
enable crime.  

For instance, a group of criminals, terrorists or even ordinary angry
citizens could arrange to form a flash mob to attack a person by showing up
from all directions at a prearranged time and place, each hurling a single
baseball at the victim.  Being beaned once is hardly dangerous, but what if
200 people each hurled one ball?  The flash mob would then disappear as
quickly as it formed, wandering off in all directions.  The authorities
would likely catch no one, and even if they did, the participants would not
know each other.  A recently-paroled child molester for instance, might find
herself the victim of a sudden hailstorm of baseballs.

The question of transparency is problematic.

spike