Re: FUCK YOU: There's no general right to privacy -- get over it,from Netly

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 8:12 AM -0700 6/13/97, Ray Arachelian wrote:
>On Thu, 12 Jun 1997, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>
>> http://pathfinder.com/netly/editorial/0,1012,1050,00.html
>
>[...]
>
>>      I have a confession to make: Unlike many of my
>> civil libertarian colleagues, I believe you have no
>> general right to privacy online. Sure, you have the
>> right to protect your personal data, but you shouldn't
>> be able to stop someone else from passing along that
>> information if you let it leave your computer. That's
>> your responsibility.
>
>
>Booooooooo!  Hisssssssssss!  Putting your bread and butter before your
>morals, eh?  Maybe if someone would go through all your records and post
>them all over the net, you'd feel differently!
>
>Declan, this truly sucks. :(  I'm very disappointed in you.  You are truly
>scum if you believe this.

Your "go through all your records" point is ambiguous. If others broke into
your house or office and searched your computer they would be guilty of
breaking and entering, and probably theft (of your records). Publication of
your records "all over the net" could be a compounding act, especially in a
civil action against the thieves.

However, if the "go through all your records" is really just collecting and
compiling your public utterances, or information you gave to others (with
no contractual agreement of secrecy), etc., then there is really no
generalized "right to privacy."

In a free and open society people are free to take any information they
have gathered or compiled, cross-indexed and compiled, and sell it or do as
they wish with it. "Tim's Dossier Service" is free to compile dossiers
based on any records he can find.

("Privacy advocates" find such things as "Tim's Dossier Service" abhorrent,
and want laws regulating such things. They even want laws regulating the
searching of past postings on Usenet, services likek DejaNews and
AltaVista.)

So, Ray, count me as "scum." Maybe Vulis will loan you his robot insulter
and you can send ASCII art to the list.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."