Quote from: The Pharmacist on Today at 03:55:52 PM

Quote from: PrimeNumber7 on Today at 03:05:01 AM

People have the right to privacy

Oh if that were only true. Ever get involved in the justice system as part of an investigation (even if you were innocent)? Tell me how much of a right to privacy you have then. Tell the NSA or Facebook or Twitter how we're all entitled to privacy online....and on and on.

I would love it if we really did have some legal protections to guard our privacy, but we don't--or we have the bare minimum at best.

That is one of many reasons why we need privacy culture. And yes, I am going to grind that axe. I wouldn’t have much street cred as a self-described “privacy activist” if I didn’t—or if I didn’t have a long history of doing so.

Laws are made by people. They do not just fall out of the sky. If people don’t value privacy—if society as a whole does not have privacy as its cultural norm—then you can expect for the laws and the legal system not only to fail to protect privacy, but to actively abuse it!

Start at the grassroots level. Start in your own life, in your daily interactions. Demand privacy. Change people’s values. Praise people who have a “none of my business” attitude—and who keep confidences, in matters that are their business. Shame people who gossip, nose around, or violate confidences.

If at least 10% of society consisted of active privacy fanatics like me, then everybody would have privacy. I am not just pulling that number out of the air; it is based on research. It is the approximate proportion which, if unopposed (or if it’s more fanatical than its opposition), can move the whole direction of a modern society. Because most people are sheep. Inert. Apathetic. Weak. Followers only, who fear conflict and cave to peer pressure.

Observe how many agendas slowly, gradually take over society, despite passive dislike by a supermajority of the population—for better or for worse. It starts with a raging hard core of people who just WILL NOT SHUT UP about an issue, who push and push... Do you want privacy? Push it! And even more importantly: Live it!

Or on the flipside: If you are just one of the sheep, then even if you feel vaguely, passively concerned about violations of privacy, your opinion is completely meaningless. If you don’t stand up for privacy—if you are not willing to fight for it—then vested interests who hate privacy will be unopposed. Now, observe the results: How much privacy do we actually have? To be clear, the question is rhetorical.

Quote from: The Pharmacist on Today at 03:55:52 PM

So what's this new drama all about?

Correct answer: Some people on the Internet don’t like me. Waaaaah. :'-(''''''

Quote from: The Pharmacist on Today at 03:55:52 PM

I'm so tired of all of this mud-slinging against members who don't deserve to get splattered. I excluded nullius from my trust list because of his "troll" feedbacks, and that's something I wish I didn't feel I had to do, but those red tags are supposed to be handed out to members you wouldn't trust with money, not because they're shitposters, trolls, assholes, arrogant, psychotic, or anything else.

No hard feelings.

Just to be clear, the feedback that I had issued in this case was neutral. It has now been deleted, and replaced by feedback that sounds neutral in addition to being marked as “neutral”. The controversy is now completely settled between its principal parties.

Quote from: LoyceV on Today at 07:40:30 AM

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I didn’t pry into Lauda’s details, either—even though she was my friend

Is that something Lauda has posted in public? I wouldn't call anyone on this forum "my friend",

LOL, expecting Facebook-style social graph status announcements from privacy people. Or discussion thereof.

I am only Lauda’s most notoriously obsessed fan, the one who just will not shut up about Lauda Lauda Lauda! Except when I need to shoot down bad ideas or potential bad behaviour—a quest which is certainly not beneficial to my self-interest. In that case, I am Lauda’s Cult Grand Prophet, vested with divine authority by the mystical revealed truth of how much that batty cat evidently liked my prolific Laudatory fan art. I don’t remember if there was ever anything else between us; I’ve been drinking waaay too much, these past few days, drowning my miseries. Gone full amnesiac here.

By the way, as a general observation, it is funny how this works: Before she left, I was not infrequently accused of being a Lauda alt, which is ridiculous. Now, some people... Equally ridiculous. Where are all of the conspiracy theories from Internet Sherlock Holmes wannabes with their obsessive scrutiny of real or imaginary connections?

I suppose it goes to show that either way, any which way, people tend to discover what they want to find, not what is actually there.

<snip>

I have no reason to reply to misinterpretations, evasions, beating of dead horses, missing of the point, and some people trying to Win An Argument On The Internet. Not playing that game.