On a fundamental level I wonder why privacy is important and why we should care about it. Privacy advocates commonly cite pervasive surveillance by businesses and governments as a reason to change an individual's behavior. Discussions are stifled and joking references to The List are made. The most relevant and convincing issues are documented cases of chilled expression from authors, artists, activists, and average Andrews. Other concerns deal with abuse, ala LOVEINT, etc. Additional arguments tend to be obfuscated by nuance and lack any striking insight.
The usual explanations, while appropriately concerning, don't do it for me. After scanning so many articles, journal papers, and NSA surveillance documents, fundamental questions remain: What is privacy? How is it useful? How am I harmed by pervasive surveillance? Why do I want privacy (to the extent that I'm willing to take operational measures to secure it)? I read a paper by Julie Cohen for the Harvard Law Review called What Privacy is For[1] that introduced concepts I hadn't previously seen on paper. She describes privacy as a nebulous space for growth. Cohen suggests that in private, we can make mistakes with impunity. We are self-determinate and define our own identities free of external subjective forces. For an example of what happens without the impunity and self-determination privacy provides, see what happens when popular politicians change their opinions in public. I think Cohen's is a novel approach and her description begins to soothe some of my agonizing over the topic. I'm still searching. [1]http://www.juliecohen.com/attachments/File/CohenWhatPrivacyIsFor.pdf _______________________________________________ cryptography mailing list cryptography@randombit.net http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography
