From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Wed Apr 18 2001 - 21:39:01 MDT
Charlie Stross wrote:
> Even more interesting are the implications of the Bill of Rights (you
> didn't know the UK had one, did you?) which has an explicit right
> to privacy. ... -- Charlie
I did not know that, thanks! As far as I can tell, the U.S. constitution
doesn't guarantee privacy. Ive heard of the 7th amendment, having to
do with citizens not being required to quarter soldiers, can be used as
an indication that the government hasn't the right to spy on its
citizens, but it is not clear to me that was the original intent. I
suspect the original intent was to keep the young soldiers from
getting an easy roll in the haystack with the citizen's daughter.
This nation's population is likely much lower because of that
amendment.
Ive been an openness advocate in the past, but recently very
quiet on this issue. I originally theorized that increasing
transparency would result in a more permissive society.
I have seen no clear evidence our society is getting more
permissive, altho it is certainly getting more transparent.
I can't tell the UK is getting more permissive, altho I hear
it is becoming more transparent at a faster rate than the U.S.
Consequently Im still rethinking my notions. spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:07:04 MST