6th July 2010, 9:47 PM
Weltall Wrote:Yeah, I'll shred things that contain really sensitive information like bank statements. But, I also wouldn't ever post that information on Facebook, either. Certainly, I'm not going to shred every piece of paper that has my name/address/phone number on it. That's just paranoid. If you're close enough to sift through my trash, you're close enough to steal my mail anyway.
I drive a car. Attached to this car are two visible license plates. I am legally required to make these plates visible at all times. If I drive across town in daylight and park in a parking lot for thirty minutes, this information is readily-accessible to hundreds of total strangers. These plates can be used as a starting point to access oodles of personal information through the DMV. There is literally nothing I can do about this except refuse to own and operate a motor vehicle.
There's this little thing called "acceptable risk".
I agree, though your exposure driving around town is far smaller. The license plate is there as a requirement for the reason of protecting other rights, namely the rights of other drivers to not have dangerous drivers on the road endangering their lives. I'll agree that this is a reasonable situation.
The same can't be said online. This is why certain bills are under consideration where identity demands of companies are going to be limited to the bare minimum needed to complete a transaction, and publishing the details will not be allowed.
The fact is, I don't so much mind that someone decides to willingly share their data. Companies coming along and violating privacy is another matter. The complete disregard for personal privacy is a big concern.
All of you may not be too concerned about posting your history, because the odds of psychopaths targeting you is pretty small. Not everyone can say that. People who are taking some time to have some fun who, let's say, have psycho ex's stalking them, or have been speaking out against the Chinese government and don't want their identities found out? There's good reason for them to be concerned.
Then there's people like me, who just don't want their real world life to become entangled in their online life. Heck I don't even make the effort to keep my various online identities all that separate.
I think that privacy is valuable as a thing in itself.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)