Comment Information == power. (Score 5) 19
Creating a database - as in the FBI's database on criminals - gives the owner leverage which can be used against those in the database. Linked databases create a more powerful database - which means more power. Combining the FBI's database with the IRS' database produces interesting results.
Privacy is increasingly an illusion. If people don't know what you're up to, it's because they don't want to take the time to find out.
What can be done to stop this trend? Probably nothing. Information will be increasingly available to more and more people. Recall the hacker ethic - "Information wants to be free." This has dangerous implications for your continued privacy. What if information really was free? What if everyone could know everything that you were up to? What if you had no privacy at all?
These are important issues for society to address. Should we expect better behavior from our police forces? Should we expect better behavior from the average citizen?
They say that people who live in glass houses ought not throw bricks. It seems like these days we're all living in glass houses. Only some of us don't yet realize it.
