David Brin on Privacy

David Brin is interviewed and provides some strong words on modern conceptions of privacy and why they're off-base. Brin asserts - and argues well - that a land with little privacy is a freer land.

Why, this is a great idea!

[eaolson]

Trying to prevent such government "sight" is pointless, according to Brin, who maintains that it is much better to seek "oversight" to watch the watchers, a pragmatic position at odds with many techno-libertarians and privacy advocates.

Hmm. And we could apply the same priciples to the economic world as well as to the govermental world, couldn't we? Like, say, when a company releases financial and accounting data to it's shareholders. How do we know they're telling the truth? Well, we should require that this information be audited by an independent agency. That should stop any abuse from happening. Gee, what a great idea.

Maybe Andersen could do the "oversight" of the government's data collection...