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Title:The End Of Privacy
Date:March 26th, 2002
Self Righteous:0
Opinionated:3
Simply true:9


I'm a big proponent of liberty, freedom and privacy. But I'm beginning to think that my ideas (on privacy at least) are becoming obsolete.

When I was looking into the size of cameras and wireless transmitters, I realized that it will only be a decade or so before we have flying wireless video cameras that are undetectable to the human eye.

And then nobody will have privacy. Imagine it, in twenty years, if you want to spy on your attractive neighbor, you can fly right into her room and she won't know. The problem is, someone can do this to you as well, whenever they want, whatever you may be doing.

Sure there will be countermeasures, but then it will become a fight of technology in physical space, which just comes down to who has more money, time or knowledge.

It's a scary thought, but I came to terms with it when I realized that we had no choice and that we would be forced to adapt. And when humans are forced to adapt, they always succeed, which makes me think we will learn to accept a new society that has a total lack of privacy. And that's a massive change. Consider beyond the privacy of just our physical bodies. Consider our secrets, our bank account number, our password, our private conversations. Imagine a world where nothing can be hidden or lied about.

It will be fascinating to see how that works out.

Sometimes it frightens me and sometimes it seems a bit utopic.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety"
Benjamin Franklin, 1759