>From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <retroman@turbont.net>
>Zero Powers wrote:
>
> > >From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <retroman@turbont.net>
> >
> > >Zero Powers wrote:
> >
> > > > For the record, I am not anxiously looking forward to *that* level
>of
> > > > surveillance. It may or may not become ubiquitous. But if it does,
>me
> > > > thinks the best defense will be to live a life that you would not be
> > >ashamed
> > > > to have broadcast to the world.
> > >
> > >Ah, the call for uniformity and conformance to 'accepted' society.
> >
> > Not at all. If it is a call to anything, it is a call to integrity, to
> > living the same life in private as you live in public. This is
>certainly
> > not a call to conformance to anything except your own professed world
>view.
> > It is not even (necessarily) a call to legality. If you are opposed to
>the
> > law of the land, you are free to engage in civil disobedience, so long
>as
> > (like the civil rights activists of the '60's) you are willing to "lay
>it on
> > the line" for your convictions. But, on the other hand, if you want to
>wear
> > the mask of Johnny Civic-Law-Abiding-Citizen in public and yet do
>whatever
> > deviant thing you want in private, you need to vote a vociferous "no"
>for
> > transparency.
>
>There is absolutely nothing inconsistent with being a perfectly law abiding
>citizen and maintaining a private life. There are many personal habits
>which are
>quite legal but which are really nobody's business to know. Would you like
>the
>world to know that you pick your nose and eat it? That you scratch your ass
>and
>smell your fingers? How would you like the world to call you Booger for
>the
>rest of your life? How quickly will you stop doing that thing you find so
>enjoyable then? Still think ubiquitous surveillance won't cause conformity?
>How
>would you like the world to be able to weigh in on what they think about
>the way
>you raise your kids? How would you like everyone your kids grows up with to
>know
>that they wet the bed? How many pedophiles are going to stalk your kids by
>spying on them with a waspcam? You can't reply "we'll catch them, and that
>will
>deter them from doing so". That is an incredibly stupid and naive reply,
>because
>if you know anything about such people it is that they don't care about
>getting
>caught, they just HAVE to satisfy their urges.
I have never said that transparency will be fun. I have said that it is
coming whether we like it or not. I have also said that, on the whole, it
will be beneficial to society. No, I don't want you to see me doing
embarrassing things. But if *everyone* is subject to the same degree of
intrusion, I will suffer it and I will not complain.
Similarly, I *hate* paying income taxes. I bust my butt everyday for my
money, not Uncle Sam. Every year I write a big fat check to the government
and I feel like I am being raped. But I realize that everyone else is
getting raped as well, and at least my rapist uses the money to buy things
that benefit me, like highways, infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of
people with guns to protect my family and me from the likes of Saddam
Hussein. Do I like it? No. Can I put up with it? In light of all the
circumstances, yes.
-Zero
"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
--Thomas Jefferson
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:12:12 MDT