What is PRIVACY? Why do YOU want it?

A very real question.
What is privacy, and why do you want it?
I am tired of reading (hearing) the standard cliche of "I dont have anything to hide".
I cant believe the acceptence of cameras on street corners, fingerprints for check cashing, blackboxes in cars and so forth.
It doesnt bother you 'nothing to hide' people that your every move can be tracked?
Are you really that perfect that Big Brother couldnt get something on you?

I dont want anybody to know where I go, or what I do.
Not because I have anything to hide. Simply because its not anyones business what I do. Its not your business, or my insurance companies business, or most definatly not my government business.

Please give me your thoughts on privacy, what it is and why you want it.



[edit on 24-1-2007 by 11Bravo]

Here is what privacy is to me.
Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The right to be secure as my self,without government id's or papers,the right to be secure in my home,the right to be secure that all my effects(possessions) will not be illegally searched or seized. This right shall not be violated.

i think privicy is vastly important as you say what i do is nobodys business but my own. yet i don't see the problem with security camaras in public places, some say it infringes on thier privicy, but what privicy do/should you have in a public place? it's not an easy questoin and many would piont out the security i provides as a force mulitplier in policeing public areas. i don't know i guess having worked in security i may just have been desensitized to such things by the exposure to them day after day. i can say i would start getting uptight if they crept into neighborhood streets and such, but agian we see more and more private security cameras on peoples houses every day. good, tough, and intresting qustion.

yep, ones life is no ones business other than theres. people today watch crap like big brother and are being conditioned to accept things like being watched in there homes. if you have done nothing wrong, you should not have power mad fanatics perving into your life.

the power mad fanatics would not like to have there life perved into, but just because they have a job with those powers, they think they are god or something.

that saying if you have nothing to hide is the biggest load of crap ever. people have right to have privacy, and until they do something wrong, those things should be the way it is.

i personally will never want to live in a world where my life is not my own, ones life does not belong to friends, family, neighbours, schools, government, or any other group of fanatics that think they have some right to do whatever they want to people.

if you do not believe in the right to privacy, wait until in the future you do not have it, and you will see what sort of life it is. like i say, i would never want to live in a world hwere your privacy is gone, and you have no privacy at all.

the day is privacy left my life, was the day, i decided never to bother with life at all, whether that first happened as i was getting close to leaving school, or later.

The ultimate question is 'Who is watching the watchers?'...

If my movements are to be watched by the authorities, then I want cameras in the white house, in the pentagon, in my local nick. They have nothing to hide either, right?...

I have nothing to hide, so why should I be watched?

I really respect the privacy of the worlds citizens.. I think the above posters have done a good job in describing what privacy is.. a good site to learn alot about privacy, and to even find out about data records security breaches can be found here..
www.privacyrights.org...

Privacy to be: This is, what is mine, my sacred place, my stuff, my thoughts, my way of life etc etc. That fact is that they are mine to have and mine to share. If I choose to voice them here fine. If big brother reads them here fine, I put it in public hands. My phone and mail is private. Yes even that Victoria secret catalog.

To those people that keep saying "I have nothing to hide, I'm not a criminal, as long as I'm not plotting a assassination just criticizing the president I have nothing to worry about. That's all irrelevant!!!!

I don't understand how protecting our freedom gets translated to "hiding"

This isn't about having something to hide. It's about what’s mine is mine and what’s your is yours. Big brothers way, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours in mine too. At least until I know you’re not a terrorist.


one day you might grow out of the sheep outfit that fits you so well!

To me privacy is a degree of control in our lives, the ability to take something, no matter how large or small and say "this is mine and only mine, nobody knows about it" It could be your guilty pleasure in a terrible pop song, the fact that you like something that is socially outside the norm (such as a guy indulging in something like a bubble bath or otherwise 'girly' thing), etc. That is privacy in a nutshell to me, the ability to have something thats your and yours alone.

For all those who like to use the tired old line about having nothing to hide I would suggest taking your immediate living situation and moving it all to a glass house that sits in the middle of times square. Try that for a week then tell me what it feels like, because thats the feeling people are developing every day as they realize there are less and less places for them to enjoy privacy.

Originally posted by ANOK
The ultimate question is 'Who is watching the watchers?'...

If my movements are to be watched by the authorities, then I want cameras in the white house, in the pentagon, in my local nick. They have nothing to hide either, right?...

Hey I am all for this idea here. I think we should be able to turn on channel xx and view our local police activities.
Instead, here locally we have in the works a law to make it illegal to videotape the police at work.

Who has anything to hide right?

I think politicians should all be forced to submit to regular AND random drug tests.

Instead, here locally we have the unions forcing them on all trades from laborors to painters.

Its not just that they want to test my piss.
Its not just that they want to listen to my phone calls.
Its not just that they want to read my mail.

Its all of these things and more combining to essentially rob every human being of something that I consider essential to life.....privacy.

I was hoping to have some feedback from the anti-privacy crowd, the 'nothing to hide' advocates that seem to be in front of me at the checkout, happily giving the cashier their phone number when she asks for it.
"Why do you need my phone number? Can I have yours instead?" I usually ask in return.

[edit on 25-1-2007 by 11Bravo]

I say if they are watching me then I most certainly should know this and have the same rights to watch them with them knowing.

What’s next?

This actually has been an issue in my home. My husband wants to get the Easy Pass (toll payment) for the GSP, but I refuse it. The point is that I don't want anyone to know where I am and when I'm there unless I want them to know. Just like this cell phone news I am not so sure if its real, but they just might be able to listen to us even with our cell phones OFF, but as long as the battery is in and charged they can flip a switch to hear us via the cell phone microphone.

Staying on subject... (trying)

No, I do not agree with personal surveillance at all. I do not mind them putting cameras on busy intersections to capture the truth behind motor vehicle accidents. I do not mind cameras recording activity outside of your own private property and business for security reasons as you will be the only one that will see that video. Soon enough we will be forced to have chips on our licenses, license plates and more which you can be located within seconds. Not a single place to hide if this keeps up!

It’s not about good or bad … Whats next? Cameras and microphones on my TV, or worse my toilet seat?

So absolutely not. It is not about “I have nothing to hide” it is about my privacy whether I am good or bad. If they can watch me I sure should be able to watch them. PERIOD!

iu know a lot of peolpe think whao 1984 when they think of this subject but if you really want to read some scary stuff read We it's by an author in the 30's i think and makes 1984 look like a summer holiday. the way the u.s is going no it's not big brother that worries me the most it's big mother with all the reg's that are for my own "good" i mean when will the healt and human service swat team swoop down on the local fast food joint and slap the french fries out of your hand at gun point. what for my own good is my own buisness not the powers that be's.

there is a clip somewhere..i think its part of a documentary i saw..anyways..it has this guy calling to order a pizza...well he calls up the pizza place and the girl goes hello mr so and so how was that last pizza? he starts saying it was good and such well he goes to order one and shes like oh it shows here that your dr so and so said that you have high colestral(sorry for my spelling), also it also shows me here that this mornings pee results confirm that, so you cant have the peperoni, so the guy membles and goes to order a lettuce one and she says it comes like 66 dollars or something hes like what? she starts naming tons of fees like high closteral fee, dr checking fee, blah blah, then she goes oh you cant have certain type of lettace i see you were in a car accident 3 days ago i hope you are doing better and shes also like i see your allergic to that lettuce .............. anyways the point is...i rather keep my life personal then having everyone up in my hood so to speak lol

I work with high tech security systems everyday in the workplace. It's my job to spec, install and maintain systems that protect my employers assets, real estate and employees. It's needed to restrict access to areas and for investigative purposes in the event of breaches of company regulations. I also agree, up to a point, with CCTV surveillance in public places, although most of the time any video footage is used for investigations of events rather than an effective deterrent.
What I do object to most strongly is the push towards a total surveillance society where we can be tracked wherever we go, by purchases we make - even to the point of having to have government sanctioned ID in order to make purchases or get at our money that the banks hold.
As others have mentioned already, where I go, how I get there, by what route and at what speed is nobody's business but mine. We are getting to to the point where we are ALL treated like potential criminals who must be watched day and night. Monitored constantly to make sure we don't step out of line.
What many people seem to forget is that it is the government that works for us, not the other way round. If everyone just said no, what are they going to do? Arrest us all?
Having a biometric and RFID chipped ID card is not going to stop someone mugging me in the street, stealing my car or blowing up a bus. Heck, the perps will most likely be card carrying citizens too
Those in power are able to suspend the rule of law, lie, cheat and steal with impunity and teflon coat themselves and hide their activities from the population on a daily basis. In short, they seem to be exempt from the same scrutiny they would apply to us, their employers.

I am a citizen of this planet, not a bit of livestock to be catalogued and used purely to finance big government.
The government should fear the power of the people, we should not be fearing the power of the government.

I found the following entry in Wikipedia:

If "information is power", then it follows that personal information in whatever form, or of whatever nature, confers power to the owner of that information.

Link.

I think that one sentence sums the issue up quite nicely.

Not having privacy is having people in power watching everything you do and treating you like an untrustworthy child or delinquent.

Originally posted by Jessicamsa
Not having privacy is having people in power watching everything you do and treating you like an untrustworthy child or delinquent.

Exactly.

How can anybody say 'I dont have anything to hide so I dont mind'?

I notice none of them have anything to add to this thread.
Thats....unfortunate.
I was hoping to get a glimpse into the minds of the anti-privacy advocates.

Where are you anti-privacy advocates? I have seen you on other threads. I know you exist in this forum. Please tell me what, if any degree of privacy is important to you.

Would cameras in your house bother you at all?
In your bedroom? Bathroom?
What would it take you make you say 'HEY! Thats PRIVATE'?