Privacy

There is no such thing as a right to privacy. First of all, because there is no such thing as rights. Even if rights were a legitimate concept, privacy could not be one of them.

All that might be called a right to privacy is subsumed under the concept property. Since one’s property is inviolate, to keep anything private, one only needs to keep it on their own property.

Most claims for privacy are an attempt to make the world risk-free. It is impossible to live in this world without other people seeing you and learning things about you. Some people may try to use this knowledge in a harmful or damaging way. This risk is inevitable, and no law or government action can eliminate it. Like all risk, the prudent individual must determine how much they are willing to risk and take appropriate measures to protect themselves or recover any real loses if the worst happens.

If there is information about one’s self one determines they cannot afford for others to know, they can determine not to reveal it. The only real threat to this view is government. But the government could not be a threat, here, if it could not initiate the use of force against its citizens. So long as citizens support government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Income Tax, and the Census, all talk of privacy is absurd.

If you want privacy, keep your mouth and your blinds shut.

It is not up to somebody else to protect your privacy. If you don’t want other people to know what your think, don’t tell them. If you don’t want other people to know what you do, don’t do it in public. If you don’t want other people to know how much money you make, repeal the Income Tax.

Your desire for privacy does not justify the use of force to require others to keep their eyes shut and their ears covered. Essentially that is what all so-called privacy laws do.