Who thinks there is privacy on the internet?

[Bakshi Num-Num]

One of the most interesting things that happens when society loses the ability to effectively protect the privacy of certain kinds of personal information is that there is more understanding and acceptance of things that were previously considered scandalous.

In an open society, there is a greater need to look into people's lives to find out who might be a serial killer or a money launderer or a terrorist. And as a result of intrusions into people's lives, it often comes to light that a politician has a cocaine habit, or a nun has had an abortion, or a married man is having a homosexual affair, or a banker has had a bankruptcy, or a preacher is a recovering alcoholic, or a judge likes to wear lingerie in private.

And eventually, people understand that a lot of what they were told to think of as wrong by right-wing moralists is not really wrong at all, because large numbers of people do it and they are not hurting anyone.

So I agree that it's a shame we are losing our privacy, but there are at least some compensations. We do have a better appreciation of who we really are.