BT 2006 trials of Phorm

[Nicholas Bohm]

Brian Morrison wrote:
> On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:50:57 +0100
> Ian Batten <igb@batten.eu.org> wrote:
> 
>> If Phorm/BT can turn this into a debate about the critics, and not  
>> about what is being criticised, they win.  A bunch of IT geeks cuts a  
>> similar figure to some vegan environmental protesters: amiable  
>> eccentrics, who the man in the street doesn't really listen to.
> 
> This and the rest of your arguments make enormous sense Ian, and I'm
> afraid that I can see your point only too well.
> 
> It seems to me that the real problem is that as a nation we have become
> accepting of the constant stream of official monitoring that happens
> now, and a lot of people that I have spoken to seem to personally view
> it as acceptable. They don't appear to see the difference between
> Phorm's business model and the actions of LEAs seeking to identify
> miscreants of one sort and another. But most often their argument is of
> the "well that's how it is and we can't change it" variety.
> 
> Most people that know me will roll their eyes as soon as an issue of
> this nature comes up in conversation, "Oh oh, Brian will be off on one
> of his rants again" they say, and proceed to smile about it rather than
> listen.
> 
> I'm getting seriously discouraged from trying to make people aware of
> what they've done to themselves by abdicating responsibility for what
> is done in their name.
> 
> If I could emigrate to somewhere I believed would be any better I would
> have gone ten years ago. But I don't believe there is anywhere really,
> even the places that Statewatch thinks are still libertarian.
> 
> Until the human race decides it needs to raise the rights of the
> individual back to where they belong I don't see this changing.

Ian is certainly right that a lot of people put a low price on their 
privacy, or are not very sensitive about what information they need to 
keep private in order to protect their privacy.

The ACLU did a neat job of illustrating the point:

http://www.aclu.org/pizza/

I often point people to this, and find their views altered by it.

Nicholas
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