Is Privacy a positive, or merely a protection?

During our privacy deliberation, we talked about identity theft and other safety concerns, e.g. being Googled by a stalker, etc. One person raised the alternative of a caring community where members watch out for each other. We talked about how that kind of community often stifles non-conforming persons and drives them away to the anonymity of the big city. The question we came away with is whether it is possible for a community to be sufficiently tolerant of diversity that individuals do not have to hide what makes them unique.

The deeper question is to what extent is privacy a reaction to intolerance and to what extent would we still want privacy even if our community harbored no prejudices that would include us? Do we want privacy to avoid humiliation, or is it something necessary for our spirits to flourish. Is privacy just protection from the cruelties of the world, or is it something positive in itself? Do those people who proudly say, "I have nothing to hide" really have no private areas in their lives?

Certainly the reason I want privacy for my reading is so others will not leap to conclusions about what kind of person I am. Usually, I want to tell others about books I have enjoyed, but I have read about topics I'm not yet ready to wear on a sandwich board. And, I know that if someone was watching I might skip some titles, because we still have people who think that they can predict your behaviour from what you read.

So, what do you think? In Utopia would we still need privacy?

great Privacy forum tonight in Virginia Beach

Privacy is a hot topic -
hard for the recorder to keep up!

It was a small group, but we had no difficulty filling the time. Two of the participants work in law enforcement and brought practical knowledge with their perspectives on privacy. We started by sharing a personal experience with privacy. That ranged from reading Skype's privacy policy to a case of mistaken identity to discovering a need for a gene test.

No one had much faith in the marketplace's intentions, but while conceding that public servants generally do have good intentions, we questioned their capacity to protect privacy. We talked about hacked databases and conflicting regulations on public records. Most of the group felt that no one cares as much about my privacy as I do, but it will mean giving up convenience and making a real effort to protect my information. We could use advice and tips, but also people just take really foolish risks without thinking.

We expressed a desire to rebuild the kind of community where people look out for each other, but without the stifling conformity that drove people away. While privacy is needful to protect us from criminals, it would be less of an issue if people were more tolerant of diverse views.