I want to preface my response by noting that I am a torn on this matter, so I am attempting to keep my analysis as objective as it can be. We are biased towards things we consider to be good or bad. Nonetheless, I did try to run through some of these biases while writing out this response.
This was all prompted as I did some further research into installing a VPN on my computer and iPad while trying to protect my privacy and get access to more movies on Netflix. So take it all for what it is worth.
My first point is that we seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding about privacy. Privacy as it exists today in most societies consists of the ability to keep one’s personal information secret from others.
Privacy was originally conceived as a way of protecting one’s private life from other people (especially nosy ones), and in particular the government. Its conception is grounded in part on core values like liberty and freedom.
But privacy as conceived by our ancestors and enshrined in law today is only meaningful if you have complete control over your private information. That is, it doesn’t matter how much other people know about you unless they can use that information to interfere with the way you want to live your life.
A person with a secret that he or she is keeping from other people does have what we might call ‘privacy’. But it’s not the same thing as privacy as conceived by law. If someone else finds out a secret, there are no laws preventing that person from telling everyone about it.
Furthermore, it’s important to realize that privacy is an illusion. We are social animals and the natural state of humanity is one in which everyone knows everything about each other.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin