Originally Posted by berj

Because one day something legal you do today may be declared illegal. And then someone can go back on all of the records they have for you and determine that you used to do alot of that thing and decide you're a threat of some sort.

Or.

every day you happen to stop at this really great hot-dog vendor and buy a hot dog. You pull your car up, get out.. buy a dog, eat it and get back on your way. Now.. as it turns out they find that said hot dog vendor is a terrorist/drug-dealer/general malcontent. Since they have nice records of you stopping there every day and buying a hot dog.. well.. you must be involved. Off for questioning you go.. maybe you'll be cleared.. but your reputation will be quite nicely tarnished.

The former may be a bit far fetched.. but I've seen the latter happen when the only records they have are visual sightings.. imagine how much more weight these sorts of accusations will have with cold, hard facts.


Now.. that's just when 'they' is a government organization who (let's give them the benifit of the doubt) are just doing what seems right. What if its someone intent on doing you harm? Just because your data is *supposed* to be used in some way.. doesn't mean that it can't and won't be used in another (eg the recent release of search requests by AOL).

Having something to hide isn't just about doing illegal things.. it's doing things that other people have no business knowing about. So what if I go and rent porn from the shop down the road? Should that mean that somone who hacks into the database that contains my travel information should be able to release that knowledge to the world?

I still put my mail in envelopes, I still close my door and windows at night, I still want privacy. It's really pretty simple.

Berj