Naomi Brockwell:
Not “Nothing to Hide,” But “Something to Lose.”
Did you know that The
Atlas Society hosts weekly Spaces on X with our Senior Scholars and special
guests, tackling topics from an Objectivist lens? If not, you might have
missed Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman’s discussion with Australian
journalist Naomi Brockwell. Last week, the duo held a Spaces discussion on
X (Twitter) with over 300 live listeners on internet privacy, ranging from
online data brokers to hacking cars.
As Ayn Rand reminds us:
“Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s
whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is
the process of setting man free from men.” Brockwell urges listeners to
hold fast to this wisdom, and shift thinking about privacy from “nothing to
hide” to “something to lose.” She provides actionable steps for
guarding against malevolent scammers and unconstitutional government
searches.
We invite you to
listen to the podcast recording of this conversation on our website or Spotify.
My response: Jennifer
Grossman and Naomi Brockwell point out that privacy is not a luxury but is
a necessity, basic to civilized living in a free society. We must not
justify our love of privacy as seeking escape because we have something to
hide, but, rather, to emphasize that we have much to lose: if we lose our zone
of privacy, we lose our zone of liberty and self-cultivation so we can
self-realize without bossy, foolish, unproductive intervention from
neighboring groups or authoritarian government.
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