surveillance, its proponents and its opponents

[Mirimir]

On 12/03/2014 06:21 AM, dan at geer.org wrote:
> Sociologically speaking, is it not interesting that Pres. Obama's
> freshest proposal for race relations is to deploy yet more surveillance
> cameras?  Body cameras for all police, an announcement made while
> arch-racist Sharpton was in the White House, is, of course, wholly
> consistent with Obama's basic intuitions whether we are talking
> drones in Asia or the data sharing requirements under Obamacare.
> 
> The immigrant amnesty groups certainly got under Obama's skin by
> calling him the "deporter in chief;" is it not time to call him
> the "voyeur in chief?"
> 
> --dan

There are trade-offs between privacy and accountability. In the interest
of social justice, there must be accountability for those who possess
authority and power. That does entail reduced privacy, but that's just a
cost of having authority and power. The degree of accountability (and
loss of privacy) should be proportionate to the authority and power
possessed.

Conversely, those without particular authority and power deserve maximal
privacy, except in areas where they are accountable. Common examples
include driving vehicles and parenting children.