alt Hacker NewsI did inject my preconceived notion into it. You are correct.
Because usually, when someone says "my business is my business", they don't mean "no one has the right to look at me when I'm out in public". That kind of statement about my business being mine in public, is usually tied to tracking and/or persistent, shareable surveillance video.
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But the original statement is still a false statement, is it not?
If others are free to observe you while you are in public with them, are they not also free to do whatever they wish with that information? Same as you are free to attempt to share as little as possible with them. Public spaces are commons, and private spaces are subject to the rules of their owners, as you are also bound by them, in some form.
Once you leave your own property, what you do ceases to be your business alone, and begins to also be someone else's. There are clearly matters of degree, but it's also impossible to be in public without broadcasting copious amounts of personal information. If others in public are equipped to collect that information in whatever form it takes, why is that suddenly wrong?
Disagreeing with that tells me that by saying "my business is only my business, and nobody else's" you really mean "no one has the right to observe me/interact with me in public". Otherwise, you'd have to agree with my earlier statements, right?
>That kind of statement about my business being mine in public, is usually tied to tracking and/or persistent, shareable surveillance video.
Sorry for the late reply.
Exactly.
From a fairly broad perspective, I do mean "my business is my business," but as another commenter noted, it's not only my business. And I agree. It's also the concern of those with whom I interact, both directly (e.g., talking to a cashier as I make a purchase at a grocery store) or indirectly (e.g., whether or not I litter).
In those cases, it's also the cashier and whoever maintains the street's business as well. Which is so blindingly obvious I didn't think it needed explication. My apologies for any confusion.
In any case, I find the idea that I, Nobody9999, should be tracked, surveilled and/or otherwise profiled, in the course of my everyday activities to be quite offensive.
Unfortunately, unless I want to live "off the grid" (i.e., cower in a leanto out in the woods somewhere), I have to submit to some of that. And more's the pity.
But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Nor does it mean I have to pretend it's not a direct affront to my (and everyone else's) privacy.