Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review) [LWN.net]

Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review)

Posted Jun 8, 2012 7:08 UTC (Fri) by drag (subscriber, #31333)
In reply to: Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review) by bjartur
Parent article: Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review)

I believe that piracy is not only desirable it is a core requirement for humans to have a functional society.

While it's not as critical as 'first tier immediate needs' such as 'Food, Water, Shelter' it is right up there. Probably second tier of requirements for human life/happiness.

(Log in to post comments)

Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review)

Posted Jun 8, 2012 20:08 UTC (Fri) by jackb (subscriber, #41909) [Link]

I believe that not having cops around all the time is a prerequisite not only to prosperity and happiness, but also for a functional society. That doesn't automatically mean I'm right, though.

If by "not having cops around all the time" you mean an environment free of institutionalized coercion I would agree with you.

Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review)

Posted Jun 9, 2012 3:29 UTC (Sat) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]

I am perfectly capable of giving lots of good reasons why I am right, if you'd like.

For one, believe it or not there are actually bad people out there that will use information against you. They exist in business and in government.

It is that it's difficult to be politically proactive when you disagree with the people running your country and they can use information to track down your friends, family, and professional associates and make their life hard in order to get to you. Demanding auditing for taxes, arbitrary fines, police harassment, etc. I've seen these things used against people that want to 'rock the boat' politically.

But if you don't want to see what is obvious to most everybody else, there isn't anything I can help with.

Doctorow: The Curious Case of Internet Privacy (Technology Review)

Posted Jun 9, 2012 14:52 UTC (Sat) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

They can do it just fine right now. It's ridiculously easy to find stuff about people you don't like. And besides, it's better to fight against the people that would try to use private stuff to intimidate you. Personally, I'm a privacy pessimist ("You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it") and I think it's better to fight for transparency then for privacy.