zlacker

Don't mix misuse of private information and privacy. All the "chilling effects" listed here are implications of misuse of private information. On the other hand, in a world where we have weapons which can single handedly wipe out whole civilizations, we need to make sure it doesn't get used by some lunatic.

From that angle, a tight security apparatus (which may include surveillance), is necessary for our survival. I think we should think more about how we can prevent the "misuse" of private information than preventing surveillance completely.

>>sreeji+(OP)
Well, yeah, how can we prevent misuse of private information other than by keeping it out of the hands of those who might abuse it?

It's simple: You have to create a perfect test that can tell good people from bad people, and then build a police force that only hires good people.

The fact is that there are people in this world who are willing to hurt other people for their own advantage. You cannot fix that by giving huge amounts of power to some more or less random selection of the general population. There is no silver bullet, and trying to construct one nonetheless tends to end badly.