If you can gather information on your customers, then they can gather data on you, personally. An intriguing, but disturbing, idea. The sometimes heated dialogue begins with Catlett and Brin laying out their opposing views on whether too little privacy, or too much regulation, will harm civilization more. Because of new technologies, we face the possibility of surveillance so effective and prevalent that we may soon create a truly dreadful society, a dystopia. If we don't take very strong steps to restrain the application of technology in some areas, we'll have lost a basic human liberty.
Privacy is a basic human right that needs to be protected.
For five years, I've asked privacy fundamentalists to show me the evidence that privacy is intrinsic to human nature, or is a basic right. I know that's provocative to say, but think about it. A basic right is one that either manifests itself in every culture, or one that, if watered down, would cause the benefits of our civilization to vanish. A good example is freedom of speech, which has to be nearly absolute, or else it fails. On the other hand, privacy is far murkier to define.