Interview: David Brin's Naked Truth About Privacy

I cannot believe how many sincere civil libertarians have actually convinced themselves that freedom is best preserved by blinding government.

Government power is kept in check by stripping the powerful down and subjecting them to scrutiny in the application of their delegated power, so that abuse of the power can be caught and rapidly dealt with. We are protected by enhancing our ability to see them, not by reducing their ability to see us.

Very good points. I don't know if I agree, though. Is a little like Gun Control. We want guns to protect ourselves from government abuses more than self-defense. It may sound incredible to think that we actually can protect ourselves from the government with guns, but sometimes it is necessary, as my country, Venezuela, will probably show very soon. Same with privacy. With the abuses committed by the IRS, Why should we trust overseeing agencies (private or public)?

7:11:36 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

the crime of sharing How excess legislation will kill your freedom of expression by John Perry Barlow.

We are born savage and self-centered, and then, unless we move to Hollywood, we get over it. We become civilized. We enter a state in which we understand that sharing is good.

And just as sharing makes us civilized, it's sharing that makes civilization. It lets us build a great collective work from the exchange of stories, myths, songs, poems, facts, jokes, beliefs, scientific discoveries, elegant engineering hacks, and all of the other products of human thought and discourse.

I know that this is a fairly obvious observation. That's why I'm stunned that so many kinds of sharing have suddenly, without public debate, become criminal acts. For instance, lending a book to a friend is still all right, but letting him read the same book electronically is now a theft.

4:22:39 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []