Privacy: Good and Bad


I did a little reading at lunch in The Transparent Society by David Brin.  Brin sets forth the following and calls it an "accountability matrix:"

1. Tools that help me see what others are up to. 2. Tools that prevent others from seeing what I am up to.
3. Tools that help other see what I am up to. 4. Tools that prevent me from seeing what others are up to.

His contention is that people see boxes (1) and (2) and good and boxes (3) and (4) as bad.  What what society needs is boxes (1) and (3) since that creates accountability.  Further, society should eschew boxes (2) and (4) since that pits citizens against each other in "an arms race of masks, secrets, and indignation. 


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Last modified: Thu Oct 10 12:47:20 2019.