Re: iTunes "Genius" -- Not for Weirdos

In <tph-DE0119.10415611092008@localhost>, Tom Harrington wrote:

Whatever, I'm still not seeing any potential scenario where letting
others know what music I have is cause for concern. So what if "they"
know?

Although I opted to let Apple have this information about me, I do think that this as a real issue.

First of all, we need to dispense with the "I don't care about my privacy because I've got nothing to hide" view. Suppose someone does like listening to "Praise for kiddie porn" by Louis and the Carols, or "Jihad Tonight" by the Tally Band. As long owning and listening to those tracks is legal, then one may very legitimately wish to keep that information private, even if one has no intention of doing something illegal. If we adopt the "I've got nothing to hide view" we are making things more difficult for those who do personally wish to keep things private, since merely seeking to keep private information private will look suspicious.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the confirmation hearings for Robert Bork when people tried to discredit him by leaking his video rental history to the press. (As I said, Bork had already discredited himself by his role in firing the Watergate special prosecutor). Although there are laws protecting that kind of information now, there are also laws protecting credit card numbers and we know how effective those are.

With enough individuated consumer choice (grocery rewards cards, iTunes, netflix, etc) information it wouldn't be hard to build up profiles of, say, who is more likely to cited for drug use, vote a particular way, or follow a particular religion. (I know atheists in Texas who are "in the closet"). So imagine a world in which the sufficiently powerful could, say, review job applicants' profile and make decisions based on that.

Do I think that that is likely? No. But do I think that it is a realistic enough possibility to be concerned about? Yes. And do I have respect for people who try to stem the tide of central collection of their private information? Certainly. Am I sounding like Rumsfeld by asking and answering my own questions? You betcha.

Although I respect and admire DB's position, I made a different choice myself. It is mostly about picking battles. I figure that this battle is already lost unless one is willing to pay for cash for everything (far too inconvenient for me).

-j

--
Jeffrey Goldberg http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/
I rarely read top-posted, over-quoting or HTML postings.
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