Monday, August 05, 2013

We Need Two Systems

One thing I'm getting tired of is people who, in any debate over privacy, say something like "Well, I have nothing to hide. The government can come check my stuff any time it wants to."

Privacy has NOTHING to do with whether or not you have anything to hide.

Just because I have nothing to hide while I'm taking a crap, doesn't mean I don't want the door closed, nor do I want the government coming in to take stool samples from me.

But rather than fight this losing battle against brainwashed half-wits, I have a solution that should make everybody happy.

I propose we have two systems: one for people who "have nothing to hide", and one for people like me who believe in due process, probable cause, warrants, and all that stuff.

So police are doing random checks. They knock on a door. "Can we come in and randomly search your house for no apparent good reason?"

Person 1: "Sure, why not. I have nothing to hide".

Person 2: "No, thank you. If you have probable cause and a warrant, I will not stand in your way, but without both, please move along. There's some idiot next door who says he has nothing to hide. I bet he'd let you search his house."

Then the government agent, be it police, CPS, whatever, must abide by the appropriate system.

Then, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.

Or if you believe privacy has nothing to do with whether or not you have anything to hide, you too have nothing to worry about.

Everybody is happy.

How 'bout it?

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