SSRN-'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy by Daniel Solove - Via Social Science Electronic Publishing:

'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy DANIEL J. SOLOVE George Washington University Law School San Diego Law Review, Vol. 44, p. 745, 2007 GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 289 Abstract: In this short essay, written for a symposium in the San Diego Law Review, Professor Daniel Solove examines the nothing to hide argument. When asked about government surveillance and data mining, many people respond by declaring: "I've got nothing to hide." According to the nothing to hide argument, there is no threat to privacy unless the government uncovers unlawful activity, in which case a person has no legitimate justification to claim that it remain private. The nothing to hide argument and its variants are quite prevalent, and thus are worth addressing. In this essay, Solove critiques the nothing to hide argument and exposes its faulty underpinnings.

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