QOTD: David Brooks (!)
by digby
This is very good. And very right. I have tried to make this point many times but haven’t done it so well:
Privacy is important to the development of full individuals because there has to be an interior zone within each person that other people don’t see. There has to be a zone where half-formed thoughts and delicate emotions can grow and evolve, without being exposed to the harsh glare of public judgment. There has to be a place where you can be free to develop ideas and convictions away from the pressure to conform. There has to be a spot where you are only yourself and can define yourself.
Privacy is important to families and friendships because there has to be a zone where you can be fully known. There has to be a private space where you can share your doubts and secrets and expose your weaknesses with the expectation that you will still be loved and forgiven and supported.
Privacy is important for communities because there has to be a space where people with common affiliations can develop bonds of affection and trust. There has to be a boundary between us and them. Within that boundary, you look out for each other; you rally to support each other; you cut each other some slack; you share fierce common loyalties.
When Snowden explains that they can watch your keystrokes as they’re being typed, then erased, this is what that means. They have the capability of looking into your thought processes. When they collect all of your google queries about various illnesses, they are seeing into your fears and worries. Knowing who you call and who you know says volumes about who you are even though these things are nobody’s business but your own. These are not abstract issues. They go directly to what it means to be a human being. We simply cannot exist without privacy. It will make us crazy.
I should also point out that he’s making this point to explain why he was originally leery of body cameras on police officers but has changed his mind, and I understand that too. Who wants to be filmed doing their job every day? But police officers are representatives of the government and they are imbued with awesome power over individual citizens. As I have said many times, they have a very tough but necessary job and they should be very well compensated for it and allowed many extra benefits (such as those generous pensions) to do it. I wouldn’t never begrudge police officers a dime for what they do. But that also comes with the responsibility to follow the law and the constitution and there are just too many perverse incentives and too much of a military culture in police work not to use the safeguards that body cams bring to the task.
It’s a delicate balance. But there’s a huge difference between the government using technology to intrude on the most private thoughts and habits of average Americans without cause and using it to ensure that police interactions with citizens are proper. After all, there’s nothing new in having police give a report after an incident. All that’s different about this is that there will now be independent documentation to back up what they say.
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