Losing Privacy

Losing Privacy

With the news that government is violating our basic rights by spying on us and storing our private data, the issue of privacy has become very important. Some believe there is no problem with violating privacy if we are doing nothing wrong; we need not fear being watched. In fact, our well-being demands privacy.

  

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution declares "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures". Warrants are issued only "upon probable cause . . . describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."  These constitutional rights to privacy distinguish us from all other people on earth.

Privacy affects our right to free speech. Fear of reprisal shuts our mouths, even when we have done nothing wrong, and makes us increasingly concerned that what we say, do, and think will be misunderstood or misrepresented. Inevitably, this leads to self-censorship. We would ultimately be afraid to be who we want to be, losing a vital part of what it is to be human. Personal growth and our personhood would become constricted because our thoughts would be constricted.  

This constriction of privacy would ultimately spread to the business and economic world to affect free enterprise and business dealings. Confidential information intended for companies, stockholders and administrators could potentially become public knowledge—a matter of state administration.

Those who say there is no need to fear government surveillance if we are doing nothing wrong must consider the question, who decides right and wrong?  What if the definitions of right and wrong are changed? For instance, what happens if Christian worship is declared to be wrong? This is, in fact, now happening. The Christian Seniors Association reports that the Obama administration has declared war on Christianity. For example, the U.S. Army’s written policy now states that any Christian in the military who discusses his faith in Jesus Christ will be court-martialed. Additionally, army training manuals now list Evangelical Christians and Catholics as religious extremists, along with the Ku Klux Klan, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda. This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, but as our constitutional freedoms deteriorate, the unthinkable has become reality.

Journalist Peggy Noonan, in her Wall Street Journal article: What We Lose If We Give Up Privacy on August 16, 2013, offers another reason to protect privacy. “An entrenched surveillance state will change and distort the balance that allows free government to function successfully. Intrusive surveillance will…put government in charge,” reversing the self-governing principles upon which America was founded. We, the People, are to be in charge of government, but the lack of privacy would put government in charge of us. This shift would change the power base of government and alter our national character.

Some say they don't care what government does as long as it keeps us safe. The insight of Benjamin Franklin is pertinent here, “They who…give up essential liberty to obtain…temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” The threat of terrorism is real, but those who run U.S. intelligence and security must be fully versed in and obey constitutional guarantees. Again quoting from Noonan”s article, "There has to be somebody supervising [those in charge of security] who knows what's right. . . . Terrorism is not going to go away…we need someone in charge of the whole apparatus who has read the Constitution." We might add, that someone must also follow the Constitution.

As technology increases, the ability of the government to take away freedoms will grow broader and deeper. It is imperative that government not embrace the philosophy of Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, who said, “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.” Privacy is a basic right, given by God. We must not allow that right to be taken from us.