

Should the government know less than Google? - ErikGelderblom
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/06/surveillance-0?fsrc=scn%2Ftw_ec%2Fshould_the_government_know_less_than_google

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LoganCale
Most of the private data Google collects about individuals is provided freely
by the people. (Perhaps not all, and maybe that should change, but the point
still stands.) Google and others use it to target advertising. The government
uses it to monitor people for perceived wrongdoing and imprison them. There's
a difference.

Privacy isn't necessarily about keeping everything private from everyone, it's
also about choosing who you reveal information to. It is perfectly legitimate
to be willing to reveal private information to Google, but wishing to prevent
the government from being able to warrantlessly scoop it up as well.

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pezh0re
Agreed. However I think there's also a certain agreement in place with
companies like Google. I willing accept to share my locational data with you
in exchange for you telling me about a new coffee shop or local offer. I can
weigh the pros/cons of that to ultimately decide if I opt-in.

I don't have a similar (or any) agreement with the government.

~~~
LoganCale
And furthermore, if the government had had its way, we still wouldn't know
they were doing this. (And they haven't admitted to everything they're
apparently doing, judging by more recent reports.)

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CurtHagenlocher
It bears repeating: "The problem isn't so much that we haven't set up a legal
architecture to preserve our online privacy from the government; it's that we
haven't set up a legal architecture to preserve our online privacy from anyone
at all. If we don't have laws and regulations that create meaningful zones of
online privacy from corporations, the attempt to create online privacy from
the government will be an absurdity."

There's also the perverse result that government has little incentive to pass
laws protecting personal privacy from corporations.

