A thought I've had over and over again, about "nothing to hide."

[xiphias]

There are people who say, "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," about security measures, policing, wiretapping, privacy settings, and the like.

What I say is, "if you have nothing to hide, you are a REALLY BORING PERSON." I'd rather live in a society in which people are allowed, and expected, to have things to hide.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And just... there are things about me that aren't illegal but are personal -- I just don't want everyone knowing about them and shouldn't required to make them public to prove my innocence.

[undauntra.livejournal.com]

Hiding things seems to become more and more difficult as technology advances. I suspect there will eventually come a point where hiding things simply isn't feasible anymore. I don't know if it'll be within out lifetimes, but that's the direction we're headed in. It's the flip side of infoglut. It'll be interesting to see how society adapts.

[richardf8]

What I say is, "if you have nothing to hide, you are a REALLY BORING PERSON."

Or you have no shame.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Everyone is guilty of something.

[goljerp]

And there are things which don't seem like a big deal now, but will later. For example, that picture of you eating a burger? After the radical vegan front takes power, will you really want the evidence of your complicity with the cruel treatment of our bovine friends to be easily found?

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

+1

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I don't think one needs to be really boring to avoid doing non-boring things in public or talking about them to others. It is possible for a person to have things they don't want the world to know and to never tell anyone in any form. At least today, what stays in one's head can't be tapped or surveilled. And if the thing was done with the knowledge of even one other person, the possibility of it becoming publicly known was ALWAYS there, before any spying technology whatsoever.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

and what one does? with whom one associates?

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what you're asking.

At my advanced age, I am pretty well convinced of the old saying, "Two people can keep a secret, if one of them is dead." In other words, it seems to me the only safe way to keep something--anything--secret is to do it alone, in a private place, and never tell anyone.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

well, true, but I'm not sure it's a way to live one's entire life. Or more to the point, yes, true secrets in a sufficiently public world are that way, but perhaps there shouldn't be that public a world, such that there is public or secret and nothing in between

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

As far as I can see, the only thing in between "public" and "secret (known only to me)" is "something I have trusted someone else not to reveal."

Of course one would prefer to have information that some people know about, either because they were there or because one told the people, and that no one else knows. And certainly government and police surveillance, poor computer/Internet security, and such make it more difficult to keep information restricted to those selected people. But my point is that the difficulty of keeping it restricted is simply a matter of degree, not some new problem. People like to think that everything was secure and assuredly private in some "good old days," and those days never existed.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

somewhat the ease of distribution and cross reference...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

That's not what I'm saying, though. I'm saying that people who don't see the downside to surveillance are either lying to themselves, have no shame, or live terribly boring lives.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I know. I'm sorry, I got sidetracked. My initial comment was a response to your point.

I understand why people want/need to hide things, and I wish it were easier (at least when hiding them does no harm to others). But for myself: I don't think I am lying to myself, and my life doesn't seem to me to have been boring. Maybe I simply have no shame. But for everything that I can think of that I would prefer that someone (from one person for some things, to the whole world) not know*, either it is locked in my own head or someone else already knows about it. In the latter case, I must trust that person, and that's why I quoted the old adage.

ETA:*Regarding these things, the reason I prefer that someone/anyone not know it is generally not shame but some other reason.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I hear "I'm lying", and also "I'm not aware of how privileged I am to have most of my secrets be harmless".

[ailbhe]

I have nothing serious to fear from any of the stuff I keep hidden, or am discreet about. Given current legislation anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

"if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear,"

Tell that to direct human service providers (people who work with the homeless and such); they have a right to keep their addresses private from their clientele, who are, unfortunately, sometimes abrasive or even violent.

In some cases, privacy matters.

C.