last edited 2013/12/26 15:12 (
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Privacy and secrecy, or more general speaking, a veil, a non-transient cover is there to secure two ways, from inside to outside, and from outside to inside, such as a development of an chicken in an egg, a seed covered by strong & hard shell, etc, where something is secured from the outside, to maintain an integrity inside, until it is ready to break the shell.
When is there no requirement for such a shell? When the environment is supportive and provide what otherwise that shell has provided: non-interference, non-disturbance until it's ready to interact with a wider range of an environment.
There is a society possible without privacy and secrecy, but it's not in sight yet. It would be a society where everyone has the empathy and understanding of the development of each other, true compassion. Yet, the society as such still maintains a much harsher, more ignorant attitude to its members, that's why societies develop laws, regulations, as the empathy, compassion and the resulting understanding aren't there sufficiently, so they need to be replaced with rules (limitations) either verbally or in written form established and enforced with threat of punishment (entire law system that is) and this is why privacy and personal secrecy is required: we as whole, do not respect an individual as whole without judgement as our opinion, our own ignorance and lack of understanding about others leads to the requirement of a shell in form of "privacy" and "personal secrecy" so we can develop, change, and experiment, and when we are strong enough, can have our coming out, later drop that cloth/identity and go back and grow another identity until ready - yes, it's cyclic process.
So, when the NSA for example, invades that private space, without actual acknowledgement of the requirement of such a space, without agreement, therefore without the respect of the individual it claims to protect from greater danger, it actually diminishes that part of the ability to develop an empowered and responsible individual - it creates, as some past experiences with partially totalitarian examples also have shown, coerced and mentally controlled individuals, where the society is doomed to collapse as it is no longer able to renew itself as the individuals no longer have the space to do so.
And that is the big picture: to invade the space, without offering a replacement, does prevent the individual to develop itself further, prevents its cyclic development, and with it, creates a dull, and eventually dying society no longer able to renew itself - the cyclic nature of life is broken in that space, where this invasion is happening.
So, it's a threat to the individuals, but also for the society as whole where the individuals are member of.
And to address the USA and NSA issue in particular, this is most interesting, when the US american culture defines itself so much over the individual freedom, which it holds up so high, that every measure to maintain it, actually undermines it to the degree where it is about to dissolve entirely - it is a form of extremism which NSA has been infected; and now Edward Snowden rightfully pointed out, the society as whole has to decide, because the leadership, Obama and his administration in particular, has lost the oversight and overall direction to implement and live up to formerly expressed ideals - which by the way, is part of Obama cyclic development, some ideals he could not live up . . . and our judgement about him is why he needs his privacy and secrecy, to eventually reinvent himself after the presidency - but in regards of the mass surveillance affecting all people using the Internet and technology, we indeed need to understand where the reason for personal secrecy and privacy comes from: our own ignorance and inability to understand each other.
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