
A Little Bit of PGP History - grecs
http://www.novainfosecportal.com/2012/09/11/a-little-bit-of-pgp-history/
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sukhbir
FTA:

"If you really are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide, then why don't
you always send your paper mail on postcards? [...] If you hide your mail
inside envelopes, does that mean you must be a subversive or a drug dealer, or
maybe a paranoid nut?"

Whenever I try to explain the importance of privacy (online and in real life)
to family or friends, not surprisingly, the most common retort to this is: "I
have nothing to hide". When I counter this argument and explain why privacy
matters, usually by giving them instances from day-to-day life where they want
their privacy respected but don't think about it that way, the message gets
across quite clearly. There is this paper [0] "'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and
Other Misunderstandings of Privacy" which dives deeper into countering this
argument; it's a very interesting read.

[0] - <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565>

~~~
Spooky23
People in the United States, especially younger people, are amazingly obtuse
about this stuff.

When you peruse the mailing lists or other discussion forums re: GPG or PGP,
you'll start to notice that you are interacting with, or at least reading
stuff from more Germans than you had previously.

Think about why Germans seem to be more interested in privacy and personal
email security. Many Germans were or know victims of the pervasive police
state, or know folks who participated in that apparatus.

I suspect that people here won't smarten up until some massive and egregious
privacy violation emerges.

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lhnn
"Privacy is as apple-pie as the Constitution."

This really hit me. I finally know how to describe it!

I don't own a weapon because I want to kill someone. I own a weapon because I
may have to use it against those who wish to do me harm. The same with
privacy!

I don't want to overthrow the government or betray friends, I want privacy
because every single person who wants to access my information has their own
reasons, and rarely are they in line with my interests. I want privacy so that
the expectation of privacy doesn't draw question or ire: it should be a no-
brainer! Everyone wants to keep their personal communication hidden!

Or should.

~~~
confluence
> _I don't own a weapon because I want to kill someone._

That is the point of a weapon (hence the term weapon). If you own one - you do
want to kill someone with it - context is irrelevant to the purpose of
ownership (namely specialised directed use of lethal force).

Stating otherwise is - frankly - bullshit.

~~~
beagle3
> context is irrelevant to the purpose of ownership

Context is extremely relevant to the point of ownership.

I own a knife that can be used to kill. But I use it to cut food. Is it a
weapon?

I have poison in my home! It's a detergent I use for cleaning. Am I in
possession of a weapon? It could be used as such.

OP may have a gun as a deterrent of some sort, despite not planning to ever
use it.

Context is everything. And stating otherwise is - frankly - bullshit.

~~~
confluence
Read modified statement above.

