The Myth of Perfection
Posted on April 4th, 2012 by Derek Bambauer
As promised, The Myth of Perfection is now available at the Wake Forest Law Review Online.
Filed under: Anonymity, Computer crime, Copyright, Digital Media, Encryption, Filtering, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Media, national security, Privacy, RIAA, Scholarship, Security
“Privacy discourse too is obsessed with perfection.” I believe that is a simplistic analysis of the true state of affairs. If I understand the author correctly, his point is that policy makers error in using draconian measures to catch very low instances of unlawful behavior, much like the phrase using a ‘using a cannon to kill a mosquito’. That assumes that the real quarry of the government action was the mosquito. The evils of child pornography are oft used as a justification for the statutory rollback of individual liberties and privacy rights. Perhaps the real aim of the legislation is destruction of personal liberties and privacy with stated justifications mere red herrings. If true, then myth of perfection in the law is not the problem. The problem is government authoritarianism.