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

[Ray Arachelian <sunder@brainlink.com>]

On Fri, 13 Jun 1997, Declan McCullagh wrote:

> I suspect the scare about privacy has led to muddled thinking.
> 
> Free speech is a right that strictly limits the government's ability to
> control what you say. We should have a similar right of privacy from the
> government.

That would be nice.  You should have put that in your article.

> But I give up my free speech "rights" when I attend a college with a wacky
> speech code or go to work at a company with workplace speech policies. My
> choices in those situations are governed by my free speech preferences. 
> Similarly, I give up my privacy "rights" when I go to unknown web sites,
> apply for a loan, or post to Usenet, etc. These also are preferences. 

But here you have a choice, you can chose to not accept that job or attend
that class, or surf that site, or even do so with a nome de guere. What
choice have you to control TRW or the DMV's, or your criminal records if
you have any?  Those aren't on your computer.

You can always attend the classes under assumed names.  This has been done
before.  (I believe one of the Steves at Apple did this - Wozniak???)
 
> I'm surprised not to hear more from other folks here: my position is one
> cypherpunks have advocated for years -- controlling what data flow from my
> computer is my responsibility.

It's still early in the morning.  I'm sure the thread will explode pretty
soon. Yes, but what about the information that others can get to on your
ISP?  Do you control that info?  We've always advocated protecting our own
data, but this doesn't mean that we should invade the privacy of those who
are clueless, or suck it in when some rogue piece of software (see the
netscape thread) endagers our privacy. 

I'm not saying pull your shades up and stand butt naked infront of your
windows.  I'm saying someone shouldn't have the right to stick a camera in
your home without your knowledge and then publish pictures of you in
Playgirl or whatever.

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