The "Nothing-To-Hide" Argument

[Kilmatead]

Recently, a Mozilla developer made a rather surprising statement, pertaining to his (personal) opinion regarding Google.  The story may be found here.

If one reads through the comments on that article, one member links to an essay which deconstructs the common "nothing to hide" argument as regards privacy.  There's more to it than you might think.

This article (in download PDF) may be found here and is well worth reading for those interested in the Privacy debate beyond the usual claptrap you will hear endlessly repeated in television and newspapers.

A caveat: The essay is a little academic, and American-centric, but ignore those things and the larger idea will come into focus.

Worth reading in it's entirety, for those concerned.

[Tuxman]

Recently, a Mozilla developer made a rather surprising statement, pertaining to his (personal) opinion regarding Google.  The story may be found here.

Well, he is right. Google is a serious danger for our privacy. There is no reason not to boycott that company and to put their servers on your blocklists (in order to avoid adsense spam and usage tracking).

[nikos]

"nothing to hide" assumes a government that has nothing to hide either. In fact a government that scrutinizes people's minutest discussions emails and telephone calls has much to hide.

[dunno]

Hmm, "1984" draws closer all the time