I was chatting with a collegue at work today about personal privacy. He grew up in South Africa and declared the old regime there "a bit like Nazi Germany, without the death camps." If the goverment decided they wanted in, they came in. They seized what they wanted and you didn't get the opportunity, or the right to hide anything. I said, "Well I'm glad I live in a society with Habeas Corpus, search warrants, etc." His response shocked me. "Look, the sooner you get over the illusion of personal liberty and privacy, the better." The discussion went down hill from there. I appreciate the idea of being able to declare certain thoughts and actions as mine alone, and hiding them from the government, speaking specifically of encryption to protect exchange of ideas and free speech. Gregor questioned "Why? What do you have to hide? What makes you so special that you can't share?" His point was more one about joining community and pooling those ideas, but somehow all these ideas and arguments were intertwined. I came away confused. I'm sure I'll write more about this at some point when the haze clears.
Posted by cbrown at July 7, 2003 8:31 PM