[ExI] experiments on privacy

[Stuart LaForge]

Spike wrote:

>> ...To quote Edward Snowden:  “Arguing that you don't care about the  
>> right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different  
>> than saying you don't care about free speech because you have  
>> nothing to say.”
>
> I disagree completely.  Those two things are not the same at all.
>
> Americans have the right to free speech, a right I feel is under  
> fierce attack now more than ever.  It has never been clear to me we  
> have the right to privacy outside our homes.  I completely recognize  
> there are those who object to that notion.

The 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,  
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be  
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,  
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the  
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I am no SCOTUS judge but I think that "papers" is the 18th century  
equivalent of "data". That is to say that if electronic media were  
available to the Founders, they would have included it in this  
amendment.

Also everything that is connected to the Internet is "in public" now  
even if it inside your home. In fact, it would seem that your home no  
longer has an "inside" with regards to the law, if you have so much as  
a cell phone in your home.

If the police cannot search your house for your friend the criminal  
without a warrant, why should they be able to search your phone  
contacts list for the same person without a warrant? Because they  
consider it metadata instead of data? That is a distinction without a  
difference as they are both electronically stored Shannon information  
that ought to belong exclusively to YOU.

Stuart LaForge




>
>> ...I think that a completely transparent society will cause us to  
>> lose even the illusion of individuality causing us to evolve into  
>> some kind of collective hive mind. That is neither good nor bad in  
>> and of itself. The question simply is, is that what we want?
> ____________________________________________
>
>
> Good question Stuart, and definitely something to think about.
>
> spike
>
>
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