Bruce Schneier has a very thought provoking post on why privacy is so important:
For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.
How many of us have paused during conversation in the past four-and-a-half years, suddenly aware that we might be eavesdropped on? Probably it was a phone conversation, although maybe it was an e-mail or instant-message exchange or a conversation in a public place. Maybe the topic was terrorism, or politics, or Islam. We stop suddenly, momentarily afraid that our words might be taken out of context, then we laugh at our paranoia and go on. But our demeanor has changed, and our words are subtly altered.
Read the whole thing, because your privacy is under frontal assault. Are you willing to share everything with any government employee who wants it? I’m not willing to have my phone conversations, pillow talk or personal habits judged by random employees of Uncle Sam.
Military life has given me a pretty good idea what to expect if we give government free reign over our lives in the name of “security.” If you aren’t famialiar with a “health & comfort” inspection, make a mental note now. In the military we experience them fairly regularly, depending on the type of duty status. These inspections are basically and excuse to rifle through the personal belongings of soldiers to ensure they don’t have any prohibited items. The list of prohibited items is a long one that would astound and disgust you. Soldiers do not have the same rights that you are supposed to be guarenteed by the Constitution of the United States.
Believe me, there are those in your federal government who would like nothing more than to find an excuse to perform a health & comfort inspection in your home, for “your own good.”