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Encryption and other technologies designed to protect privacy and anonymity on the Internet create a tension with the need for legitimate intelligence collection activities. Where is the line between personal privacy and societal rights to safety and security. How much do citizens consider, not only the government that is currently in office, but also all the future holders of government positions when deciding where that line should be drawn? Read story posted in the NYT and tell us what you think.
2 Comments
Correct me if I am wrong, is not privacy a fallacy? Essentially the extent of privacy is what the individual sees private to them. At least this is my understanding from the U.S Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Neither document gives a provision for privacy. The word is not even mentioned in either document for that matter. Thus the government protects its assets and allies primarily. Do the tools online give us a cloak of privacy? Tools like SSL, TLS and IPSEC. Sure.
It is my feeling that people will only concern themselves with privacy when the day comes that they are assigned an IP address and are aware of their placement on the GiG.
I suspect if you asked 10 people their definition of privacy you would end up with 10 different responses. There is some legal basis for privacy in some supreme court decisions that are mostly context specific.
Having done work and research in the area of privacy for over a decade now I have found that people, if asked, will claim that privacy is important to them. I have also found that if privacy is made inconvenient then it is likely to go out the window.
What is at the heart of the question is the proper balance between the right of individuals to control information about themselves versus the need of the government to be able to do intelligence. The question assumes, however correct or not, that there are still technological alternatives that those who care deeply about privacy and anonymity have available to them and who are willing to be inconvenienced in order to exercise those rights.