Posner on Privacy

Link: The Becker-Posner Blog: Posner on Privacy.

So, as often in law and public policy, a balancing of imponderables is required. My own view is that we tend to place somewhat too much weight on privacy. The word “privacy” has strongly positive connotations (like “freedom”), which obscures analysis. All that privacy means in the information context (for I am not talking about the Supreme Court’s usage of “right of privacy” to describe the right to an abortion and other sex-related rights—the Court appropriated the word “privacy” to describe these rights presumably because of its positive connotations) is that people want to control what is known about them by other people.