DetouR6734: There are people much worse than your own government. But thats the thing, it's easier to believe that the big evil in the world is the government, without it the world would be better off, and individuals across the ocean behind the PC screen would never consider doing such terrible acts, not on the level of the government.
I'm sorry but you can't honestly call someone "naive" and then follow it up with rote fearmongering. Random people may consider terrible acts, sure, but without the resources of a state they would be powerless to put them into practice. I've seen street corner preachers say some absolutely vile things...but most people don't take them seriously, and moreover, the crazies don't have a monopoly of force to put their beliefs into action on unwilling participants. It's a clear distinction.
DetouR6734: Question, who is most likely to empty your bank account and leave you dirt poor? The government or the hacker that just stole your access?
The one claiming the right to rule over me in perpetuity. But, maybe you prefer anecdotes, so let's count the numbers. Times I have been mugged/phished/etc in my adult life: 0. Times I have been taxed in my adult life, which literally involves emptying of bank accounts: ...uh, more times than I can count. But, by using handy fallacies like special pleading, equivocation, and appeals to unconscionable contracts (i.e. the social contract), these logical flaws magically disappear...Don't they?
DetouR6734: What's most likely to happen, the government sending a hit man out to deal with you, or just some dipshit with a knife wanting to get his rocks off by stabbing you?
Given the proliferation of "law officers" on the roads nowadays, I would say the chances are higher with the former. But in any case, I do not mean to sidetrack political discussion, only wanting to invoke politics insofar as it relates to the topic at hand: privacy. And my theory, exemplified by my comment right now, is that people have made numerous logical handwaves and exhibited herd-mentality in favor of politics, which in turn got everyone to the point now where privacy is a hopeless daydream.
