Privacy awareness (Was: Cypherpunks priorities)

Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu> writes -
 
EH> 4. Fighting restrictions on cryptography.  In the US, that means
EH> getting actively engaged in fighting key registration ideas.  This
EH> means preemptively writing your elected leaders _in advance_ of a
EH> specific issue.  It also means writing about export restrictions in
EH> cryptography.  In France, that means raising public awareness on
EH> cryptography restrictions and the eventual effects that will have on
EH> the open society there.  In all countries, it requires vigilance.
 
 Amen, brother.
 
EH> 5. Increasing awareness of privacy issues.  Most think they have
EH> nothing to hide.  Most also hate it when they get extremely detailed
EH> junk mail about their own lives.  Teach the defense of privacy.
 
 This is perhaps the most difficult feat to accomplish. Education and
 "awareness" are both strictly accomplished on a somewhat voluntary
 basis. For those who can absorb the importance and criticality of
 digital privacy, however, it's an eye-opener. A lot of folks have no
 idea how some of the proposed "legislation" would affect them
 personally.
 
 Cheers.

Paul Ferguson                     |
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I wrote:
>EH> 5. Increasing awareness of privacy issues.  Most think they have
>EH> nothing to hide.  Most also hate it when they get extremely detailed
>EH> junk mail about their own lives.  Teach the defense of privacy.

Paul replies:
> This is perhaps the most difficult feat to accomplish. 

I agree.  I think junk mail may be one of the best examples from which
to extrapolate for the general public.  It becomes really clear
exactly that they do know something, because it says so right on the
letter.  It's usually easier to get people thinking about their own
lives than abstract privacy issues.

Eric