Is privacy really yours?

I'm trying desperately to hold private my opinions about the latest revelations on the ways and means of modern espionage, its targets, and rationalizations.

But I find this logic, from Congressman Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House Intelligence committee, quite dangerous...

He says, and I quote:

"You can't have your privacy violated if you don't know your privacy is violated".

While the United States laws on privacy are complicated, I feel that this is so awfully wrong :-(

Criminal voyeurism is illegal.  Date rape is illegal.  This is not a thought experiment.  If a tree falls in the forest, there is a tree on the ground irrespective of its audiology.

Comprehend Congressman Rogers' same logic applied to Rohypnol.  Or a video camera hidden in a dressing room.  These are blatant crimes, whether or not the victims are aware of the violations of their privacy.

This recent TED talk, by Mikko Hypponen, is incredibly thought provoking.  Chillingly, he quips, "Orwell was an optimist".  Yikes.  On a happier note, I'm almost positive his slides in this talk use the Ubuntu font.  Presumably he delivered this presentation in Brussells from an Ubuntu PC?




Dustin