Re: value of privacy?

["Philippe Nave" <pdn@dwroll.dw.att.com>]

J. Michael Diehl writes :
> 
>      I've been thinking lately.  (No, it didn't hurt.)  Does privacy have in
> inherent value, or are "we" simply concerned with what others can do with
> sensitive information about ourselves?

I am in the midst of reading _The Naked Consumer_ by Erik Larson, and I find
myself asking the same questions you are about privacy. I think privacy has
an inherent value, distinct from the consequences of information abuse. For
example, it doesn't _hurt_ me to get targeted junk mail, but I find it 
unsettling that direct marketers know enough about me to send the 'right' 
mail. I see it this way; 'they' make decisions about me and initiate a 
relationship with me without my knowledge or consent. The relationship is
artificial and uneven; 'they' know more about me than I know about 'them'.
Even if the relationship does me no real harm, it makes me uncomfortable.
So, I value my privacy even though (some? most?) of the time I don't suffer
gravely ill effects from the manipulation of what I consider private data.

This feeling is what drives me to learn more about PGP and secure transaction
systems; ideally, these systems will help conceal some of our private data
from (for example) the telemarketing types. [Allow me my dream, at least. :) ]

-- 
........................................................................
Philippe D. Nave, Jr.   | The person who does not use message encryption
pdn@dwroll.dw.att.com   | will soon be at the mercy of those who DO...
Denver, Colorado USA    | PGP public key: by arrangement.