Re: Brin on Privacy

Robin Hanson (hanson@hss.caltech.edu)
Fri, 20 Dec 1996 11:26:27 -0800 (PST)


Mark Grant writes:
>Seriously, unless the US government ban encryption in the next couple of
>years it's going to be so ubiquitous that they'll never be able to control
>...
>Could I suggest that all the pro-surveillance people on the list go out
>and set up WebCams around their houses? It doesn't cost that much these
>days, and would go a long way to convince people that your arguments are
>serious. I mean, what do you have to hide?

I, and I think many others here, think that there isn't much we can do
to prevent both encryption *and* webcams becomeing widespread.
Much greater privacy in cyberspace, and much less privacy in the
physical world. The interesting question is then: what does this
imply about life in such a world?

Robin D. Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/