[ExI] extropy-chat Digest, Vol 230, Issue 30

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Bill W:

>
> Why do you need any kind of privacy when you are going to do nothing
> wrong?

"Saying you don't need privacy if you have nothing to hide is like  
saying you don't need freedom of speech if you have nothing to say." -  
Edward Snowden

> Why do I care that the FBI or whoever knows I went to Walmart? My
> doings will put them to sleep.

What if they use the fact that there was some guy infected with "new  
and improved" COVID-25 standing behind you in the checkout line and  
they need to throw you in a FEMA camp to protect society from you? Or  
what if one of your students calls you to ask to reschedule their  
midterm exam and unbeknownst to you, that student has ties to some  
extremist group. You are now on the FBIs radar as a potential  
terrorist. Under existing law, they can get a secret warrant from a  
FISA court to tear your home apart looking for the slightest bit of  
evidence to use against you. If they are frustrated because they can't  
find any evidence of terrorism, what keeps them from arresting you for  
weed.

Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time or talking to someone  
on the phone can become probable cause to detain you and put you under  
the microscope. Even if after thoroughly searching you and making your  
life hell for weeks, they find absolutely nothing wrong, then how  
would that ordeal have benefited you? Would it be a fair price to pay  
for the "good of society"?


Stuart LaForge