The right to privacy: embodied in each of us

On Mastodon, someone in my timeline asked how to debunk the anti-privacy argument that goes “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”

My response was too long for one toot.

Was Diogenes correct? When he taught by example that if we are honest, we should carry out openly and in the public square all of our bodily functions? That we should do all our peeing and pooping and barfing and ejaculating in public? By one small step, that we should change our babies’ diapers and embrace our loved ones and caress our lovers, only in public?

Privacy is so fundamental that it resides in the human body. It expands outward in concentric circles starting with your physical contact with loved ones. Would you prefer to be the one who draws the outer circle for yourself?

Or would you prefer to leave the outer circle to be drawn by … global mega-corporations? … by a State with the power of violence over you?

Of course, Edward Snowden put it best:

Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

Alas! Snowden made this statement on Reddit during an AMA. I wonder how long this primary source will even exist. Spare a thought for the plight of twenty-first century librarians.

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