Do Privacy Fears Allow Terrorism?

carbon3C writes "Privacy advocates are luddites, says Heather MacDonald, a lawyer at the Manhattan Institute. She says we should shut up and let the government do what it wants. Our government only wants to protect us, and would never misuse technology. How do we send a clear message that non-luddites (conservative and liberal) are concerned about privacy precisely because we do know so much about technology?" Leaving your front door wide open is a great idea, until someone you don't know walks through it.

Comments

Re:Thats just what Big Bro wants you to believe !

[cK-Gunslinger]

What should America be doing? Stop the protection of state funded terrorism from Israel. Stop the support of other dictators in third world countries. Stop the support on the oppressive monarchy in Saudi Arabia. Cut some funding for the military and place that excess money into education, healthcare and welfare. Claim responsibility for its past mistakes and look at real ways to finding solutions.

*groan* Where to start on this ultra-liberal nonsense...

I'm not sure if you live in the US or not, but if so, why not move to Norway, Sweden, etc? Live there all your life, then tell us that those are the "best" places in the world to live. Until then, you have no basis for comparison. (either do I, for that matter)

Cut the military and spend more on education, healthcare, and welfare? Of course! It's so simiple! Why don't we sell all our weapons to other countries and use that money for more welfare, too? In fact, why don't we make all weapons illegal and sell those too! The police don't need guns. That will surely lead us to the utopian, welfare-based, socialist society you invision!

Like it or not, humans are violent and prone to war. Ignoring that will not make it go away, the only way to survive is to mitigate violence the best we can. We may not be handling it perfectly, but we've survived this long and it's surely better than the alternatives.

Re:Use technology to invade her privacy

[orbital3]

the vast majority of people are not murderers, rapists, or thieves; the laws that we'd be breaking everyday include little things like jaywalking, littering, minor speeding, running yellow lights, not coming to a full stop at stop signs, vehicular manslaughter, etc.

Whew! It's a good thing they don't crack down on that vehicular manslaughter either... I committed 3 of those just yesterday! Imagine if they actually prosecuted people for that! Silly pedestrians, always getting in the way...

Re:Oh Come On!!!

[anthony_dipierro]

As if that message implies that whatever happened was just "good natured identity theft" or that there was no stress involved in the THOUGHT of losing his job.

Oh no. Thought crime. Give me a fucking break. If he's paranoid about losing his job, that's his problem.

I've had my ID stoled twice, the old fashioned way; my wallet (which was then used to obtain my pin for my credit card and subsequently used to make copious cash advance withdrawls)

You have your pin in your wallet? You deserve what you got.