Thank you, Gazeta. What means much more to me than the forum merit is that somebody
the results—this world in which we live...
I do intend to edit OP as a living project. I do not think that I will produce a long-form essay; rather, it should be a list of principles to be learnt by heart, as thereby stated. Meanwhile, I will take this opportunity to bring here a discussion that really started in an inappropriate topic: In the big picture,
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 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—right or wrong—
even if passive disliked 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 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.