“EVERYONE IN A SOCIETY HAS THE RIGHT TO PERFECT INFORMATION”
Noah Dyer describes himself as a “political theorist with an interest in privacy.” In fact he’s so interested in the subject he wants to participate in a year-long experiment … one he’s raising money for on Kickstarter.
Dyer is asking donors to give him $1.00 apiece “so that I can record a year of my life without even 1 second of privacy.”
Wait … huh?
“I believe that the type of government and society that will persevere while other forms of government fail and are replaced, is a government that does not recognize the right to privacy, but rather says that everyone in a society has the right to perfect information, so that they can act according to their own best interest,” Dyer wrote in his solicitation.
Actually there is no expressed right to privacy in America, but there are numerous constitutional protections (many of which are currently ignored by our government) that collectively provide a de facto right to privacy.
Dyer doesn’t like that.
“In most societies we (recognize) the right of people to keep secrets,” he writes. “But really there’s only one purpose for keeping secrets: secrets exist to prevent other people from acting as they would if they had complete information.”
And so he proposes to lift the veil …
“You will see every email, every text, every facebook message and any other communication that I receive,” he writes. “You will see my bank account transaction and balances.”
Really? Because that sounds eerily like a program the government already has up and running.
Look, we agree that people would act differently if they knew the complete truth about everything … which is precisely why the government is always keeping secrets from its people.
But what private individuals do in their private lives is their business. And if they want to keep certain things private that do not impose affirmative obligations on taxpayers or interfere with the liberties of other human beings – then they should continue to be able to keep those secrets.
Just as Dyer is free to expose us to every waking and sleeping moment of his existence beginning on October 20, 2014 (assuming he raises sufficient funds), the rest of us have the right NOT to expose every waking and sleeping moment of our existence to others.
That’s the definition of liberty, people …
29 comments
Mr. Dyer, Sir: NSA will set up a website for you, and provide 24 hour coverage and postings for you, at no charge. Please do some activities that would be interesting in videos and photos. I’m keeping my dollar to feed a homeless dog.
I assure you, the NSA will not fund a campaign intended to erode its competitive advantage.
Fits, that is an excellent photo which I will save and use as needed.
Isn’t it? No matter what you think of Will, he does have access to an excellent photo gallery.
It truly looks great on my PC against a black background – it appears that a spotlight is shining on the guys eyes…
Extremely nifty.
I lean strongly toward openness. I don’t tend to use pseudonyms, and I’m as honest as I can be about my opinions without becoming involved in constant and interminable arguments about politics, culture, and religion. But some level of privacy is a basic human need, hardwired into our brains for very good reasons. People don’t benefit from having to constantly defend themselves against those who might use personal information for things ranging from social ridicule and ostracism to predatory purposes. I don’t want everyone in the U.S. to know where I bank, what my daily routine is, the specific details of my love life, and the schedule of my body functions.
And frankly, I’m not interested in that level of detail about anyone else’s private life.
I don’t think privacy is hardwired, but courtesy is. I’m not calling for abandoning courtesy. Just because you can watch me shower, doesn’t mean you should.
No one could hold anything over you IF you had all the same information about them. Again, you’re talking about assymetric information exchange. I’m talking about symmetric information exchange. No one has an information advantage, or at least not a right to one. Some people won’t consume the best information even if it’s available to them.
I obviously disagree with you about the hard-wiring, but I wish you luck on your project. The level of public exposure you’re planning does wind up being asymmetric, if the assumptions I draw from just the information in the article are correct. Your project seems like a one-way flow of information. Correct me if I’m wrong on that point.
I’m more internet-open than most people. My full name is my id, and anyone can learn a lot about me by just browsing my disqus profile, or doing a simple web search. I’m open to an extent which would alarm most people. But on the other hand there are a number of things, both serious and trivial, that I just want to keep to myself.
Sorry for the confusion. Experiment = super duper assymetric. Proposed society = symmetric.
For the sake of the experiment, I plan some rather sensational disclosures, but your habits sound largely like mine up to this point.
Thanks for wishing me luck!
My reason for tending toward openness is my observation about the manner in which lack of openness operates in two areas.
One is the level of discussion on the internet. Anonymity advocates often claim that pseudonyms promote honesty in discussion. All I’ve ever seen it do is increase the number of mindless flame wars. I used to call it the “yahoo finance disease”, after the complete degeneration of the yahoo finance discussion boards.
The second is in direct press access to government employees. Now an alarming number of agencies have policies in place forbidding their employees from talking to the press, except for the “public information” department. I’ve written a little about it at
http://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.com/atlantalarry/2014/07/stop-the-noxious-and-excessive-control-of-information-by-federal-agencies.html
I’ll send a few bucks to your project. It doesn’t look like you’re going to make goal, but the fact that you have a philosophical justification makes it more worthwhile than reality TV with fading rock stars and bored heirs and heiresses.
Really appreciate the thoughtfulness that you’ve given to this, and your donation! Hopefully I can actually make it to the point where they take it from your bank account ;)
If we all had perfect information, no one would get married or have children.
They’d still have children.
You’re right, but they might not want to raise them.
Dyer’s assertions invoke images of a dystopian nightmare. Additionally, he presumes that the State is itself a benevolent entity merely seeking complete information, rather than a coercive vehicle for suppression, using otherwise unknowable information to root out dissent, unfavorable viewpoints or social pariahs. Humanity, and all its wonders, are often most creative specifically because of privacy. Had Copernicus and Galileo not had the privacy to conduct experiments about the relationship between the Earth and the Solar System, the Catholic Church would surely have rooted out such heresy before their research was complete. One can make the same arguments for the works of Voltaire, Christopher Marlowe, William Blake, John Milton, Oscar Wilde, etc. Without privacy, man’s penchant for creativity would be eliminated. What a Brave New World that would be.
Excellent points! Though something tells me Dyer hasn’t put nearly as much thought in to the matter.
You’d be surprised, I’m a pretty thoughtful dude.
Why does everyone suggest I’m talking about giving information to the state? I’m talking about giving information to EVERYONE! It’s the whole premise of my experiment. We’re already giving information to the state, and I agree the state is largely a vehicle of corruption.
It’s all the Joe Blow’s clamoring for their worthless privacy that allow the political elite to commit their acts of waste and intrigue behind closed doors.
People aren’t creative because of privacy, but I agree that safety is a requirement for free thinking.
Two points.
1) I really have no interest to see or know about everything you do for a year, dude. Nobody does. It is possible that not even the NSA does.
2) Just because you’re cool with freely showing everyone everything about yourself doesn’t mean everyone else should be cool with doing the same.
The fact that no one wants to see me poop is part of the premise. Why do we try and keep information private that no one actually wants?
All I’m saying is that if you could run an experiment with 2 versions of the United States, one with 100% access to the best information, and the one we live in now where information is hidden behind security clearances, politics trade secrets, etc., the former will out perform the latter in every metric not long down the road.
Perhaps Kickstarter has now become a site where fools and their money are soon parted. Time will tell if Mr. Dyer raises more money than the dude who was working on his potato salad recipe.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/324283889/potato-salad
Boomerang 101, 404, 609, 901
Didn’t the former USSR feel that same way about privacy? Is this guy the Rock Hill peeping tom? There are always people out there wanting to show others more than necessary.
Sorry I’m late to the scene guys. Just found out about this today.
The USSR didn’t believe in universal information, they believed in information concentrated in the hands of a few. Kinda like we have now.
So, for those of us that believe that a government should be accountable to it’s people, there are 2 possibilities – get the government to give up it’s spying practices, or equalize information so that government doesn’t have a leg up on us.
Personally, I think the former option is less likely, and less beneficial to society. And that’s why I’m conducting my experiment.
…and, you know, people WILL send him money. We really DO live in a Monty Python world………… “..The Larch.. the Larch..”
They’re sending, but not fast enough! You should help them ;)
Nah. As brother Dave Gardner used to say,”…I’ll pass it on to the waitress…”
A fair use for it.