Tech Musing 3: Thoughts on Glenn Greenwald's Talk on Privacy

I watched all of the clips that Suzie provided and, while the documentary clips were a little too dramatic for me, the clip with Glenn Greenwald talking about privacy really got me thinking. I want to start this off by saying that I think he is much more knowledgeable than I am on the topic of privacy, and I truly do value my privacy, but I think his explanation of how people view privacy may be skewed.

In particular, I want to discuss the part where he states that privacy is not viewed similarly to other fundamental needs. For example, we have Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and it is obvious to see where food, water, and shelter fit on the hierarchy, but privacy is a little bit more abstract -- after all, we won't physically die if we lack privacy. I agree with Greenwald when he argues that the "I have nothing to hide" claim is not a very strong one. That statement implies that the only reason people have something to hide is when they have done something wrong, but there are many more reasons to keep their personal lives private. However, I think his 'social experiment' where he asks anyone who claims that they have 'nothing to hide' to email him a list of all of their emails and all of their passwords is a weak, and almost ridiculous test to prove his point.

For me, there is a significant distinction between the government tracking my data and someone that I have been in contact with reading my personal emails. From my understanding, the government has been collecting data in order to track criminals -- not to judge my character. I highly doubt that every single one of my emails have been read word-for-word, and I doubt that anyone at the NSA is making conclusions about my reputation or my moral character based on the websites that I have visited or the emails I have sent. On the other hand, if Glenn Greenwald asked for permission to read through all of my emails and view my browsing history with no real motive behind it, the only conclusion that I can draw is that he is doing it for his own entertainment or to be able to make assumptions about what kind of person I am.

Greenwald says himself that being able 'to think, reason, explore without the judgmental eyes of other people' is a critical component of human freedom. When he talks about his privacy experiment and how no one has ever agreed to allow him to look through their emails -- I am not surprised by his findings. I see a weak parallel between his experiment and what the government is doing. because the data collection of the NSA, although a blatant violation of US citizens' privacy, is not conducted in order to form judgements of moral character of every member of our country, but rather it is an attempt to keep our country safe through surveillance.

After watching his clip, I view privacy in a different way.  I never thought of it in ways beyond my emails, text messages, and phone conversations. Privacy extends to other aspects of our lives such as locking our doors or keeping our blinds closed. He made me value my privacy even more through examples of how it is more important than we often realize.