Hvorfor overvågning ikke er OK

En kommentator i denne tråd på Boing Boing spørger, hvordan hun skal forklare sin fem-årige datter, hvorfor privatlivets fred er vigtig nok til at kæmpe for, og får dette svar:

It’s not a secret that all of us have genitals, willies and bums and female genitalia.

It’s also not a secret what we use them for, like when we go to the toilet.

However, we don’t like other people to see these parts of ourselves – these are private parts. People have no right to get to see these parts without our permission, by lurking in the girls’ gym at school or similar antics.

Also, it’s not a secret that people have friends, and friends say things to each other. However, the fact that this is not a secret does not mean we like other people to hear what we say to our friends. The things we say to our friends are our things, our private life. The government has no right to get to know what we tell our friends, e.g. by tapping our phone.

And this is the end of the “if you’ve done nothing wrong you’ve got nothing to hide” argument. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with our private parts, but we still don’t want to walk around on the street with no clothes.

It’s also not that there’s anything wrong with the things we say to our friends, but these are our things.

Maybe bad people say bad things to each other on the phone and plan to do bad things to good people, and if the police have a good reason to believe that then yes, in that case a judge may give them a warrant to listen in on these suspected bad people’s conversations.

Bad people may even hide bad things like weapons along with their private parts, and in that case it would also be okay for police to ask to see their private parts – if they have a good reason to believe that, I mean.

They should not be allowed to do this without a reason (reasonable suspicion), because these are people’s private parts – these are *my* private parts.

Og mon ikke det giver god mening også for en fem-årig? Det gør i hvert fald kort proces med sludderet om, at “hvis man ikke har gjort noget galt, har man ikke noget at skjule”. Vi har alle noget at skjule. Det kaldes “et privatliv”.

Læs også:
Databasestaten, af Cory Doctorow
Databasestaten, på Modspil.dk

5 thoughts on “Hvorfor overvågning ikke er OK”

  1. Men … men! Hvis nu alle gik rundt uden tøj på, så ville man kunne spotte en selvmordsbomber på lang afstand, og så ville vi alle være meget sikrere.

    Desuden skal bilers karrosserier være konstrueret af gennemsigtig polycarbonat. Ikke flere bilbomber!

    QED, overvågning er et gode.

    Medmindre, selvfølgelig, de så bare begynder at spise deres bomber. Men i det tilfælde er det logiske svar, at vi behøver mere overvågning, ikke mindre. Gennemlysningstationer for hver 100 meter på vejene!

  2. Ja, det er nogle gode og relevante spørgsmål at rejse, og svaret på dem er vigtige for, om denne aktion i sidste ende er nyttig eller kontraproduktiv.

    Så tak for Modkraft-linket! I øvrigt synes jeg, det er nogle gode svar, de giver.

  3. Citizen: Det giver pludselig fornyet mening til udtrykket: “Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”

    Carsten: Der er også nogle gode ting på Modkraft om den kommende aktion ved Sandholmlejren. 🙂

  4. Hæh, jeg kom vist til at lægge den foregående kommentar ind på det forkerte indlæg.

    Hæh -- anyway, Citizen, du har ret! Jeg gi’r mig -- vi skal alle gå nøgne rundt, og overvågningskameraer i alle toiletter og soveværelser, så tæoisterne ikke får os! Helt ærligt, det manglede da bare. 🙂

  5. Det vil jeg kun være med til, hvis vi kan få indført en lov om, at almindelige borgere har pligt til at overvåge og indberette hinanden. Jeg vil i så fald følge min patriotiske pligt med glæde.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.