Security and Privacy: Why Privacy Matters

A long-overdue discussion of security and privacy is taking place within the US and among its friends and associates in many parts of the globe. In large part, this is due to the revelations of Edward Snowden, the employee of a government contractor, who leaked secret information about the extent of US government data collection on the calling habits of US residents. Privacy is often pitted against security, thereby creating a false dichotomy that is a discussion for another time. However, if it is granted, for the time being, that security and privacy are at opposing ends of a continuum along which a balance point can and should be found, that is, that there is a theoretical point at which ‘‘enough security’’ can be balanced against ‘‘enough privacy’’. How is the balance attained? Those who are concerned about security have a point: the tragedy of victims’ lives, hopes, and futures torn apart by the misplaced violent anger and frustration of terrorists or other criminals clearly elicits an immediate and deepseated, visceral response, and underscores the importance of security. But does security outweigh or even trump privacy? More importantly, should it? The frequent, simplistic response is ‘‘I am not worried about privacy. I don’t have anything to hide.’’ While there is much to be said for openness and transparency, they can nevertheless be over-rated and are seldom uncomplicated. For example, travelers who are obliged to wear adult diapers for urinary incontinence would certainly rather not be patted down by an agent of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the airport. Furthermore, almost everyone knows someone with whom they would not share a secret, their own or someone else’s, and not just because it might be passed on and, as a result, hurt or alienate a third party (or worse, be passed along for the purpose of hurting or alienating another). Rather, secrets go unshared at least in part because almost everyone has learned that any bit of information is open to interpretation and misinterpretation, subject to conscious and unconscious assumptions and biases in the mind of anyone who has access to