Why was this secret? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why was this secret?

#141

Post by dinkumthinkum » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 2:49 AM UTC

natch wrote: post #63

Is Sivers really suggesting that just because she was OK with him reading the diary, she would be OK with anyone reading it? That seems like a highly naive assumption. And seriously, this is your entire project list? "Everything is listed..." As a programmer and someone who sees how other programmers work, I am not buying it. Please don't lecture us on secrets with weak false examples. It comes off as disingenuous.

This is such a great comment. I would have liked to put it so succinctly as this!

Re: Why was this secret?

#142

Post by vubuntu » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 2:52 AM UTC

Flawed argument by the poster...

>> "Pages filled with words about processing family drama, formulating goals, plans for life changes, romantic details, lists of regrets, contemplations, etc"

C'mon, those are her super super private secrets? Thats ridiculous. 'romantic details' may be a little bit...

Thats why she says "So if someone is going through my private things, for example, and gets upset about what they find, then that’s their problem, not mine!”"

But things people like to keep really secret (and not coyly secret) and worry about others finding out, are those that would upset themselves (and not the readers) if they get discovered. These would be things that one is ashamed of, that one is afraid of being discovered, that if known to others will result in loss of respect/love/admiration/consolation etc that they are currently receiving from others. Or those if discovered by the wrong person can leave one vulnerable to exploitation/blackmail etc. Any other type of secrets are just silly and overblown.

Re: Why was this secret?

#143

Post by x0054 » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 2:58 AM UTC

woah wrote: post #110

grellas wrote: post #101

Why was her diary secret? Well, because she wanted it so. And that should be enough. When it comes to information that any given person regards as intimate about oneself, that should always be enough. It doesn't matter that someone else might peruse that information and say, "there is nothing special here." Why? Because it is not that person's judgment to make. There may be nothing special about my exact bank balance…

If a competitor came in and took your customer list, would it be good for your customers?

It's not about what's best for the customers, it's about the rights of the company to that list, and their choice to make it public or private. Privacy is a right, not a privilege, and requires no justification.

Re: Why was this secret?

#144

Post by lennydizzy » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 2:58 AM UTC

jfoutz wrote: post #23

jarrett wrote: post #9

In the context of coding projects, the author's conclusion seems realistic. Given current events though, I can't help but wonder if there's a subtext about privacy and snooping. If so, then I would venture this observation: Your friend's super-secret diary is meaningless to you only because you have no desire to abuse the access you've been given. Suppose instead your friend's devious enemy obtained the diary. Then,…

For me, the information asymmetry is what's upsetting. Everyone's location data being free and public seems, well, ok to me. But no exceptions for any reason.

The problem is you can not make the judgement, that making everyone's location public is ok, for everyone. People have different preferences towards their privacy. We should respect other's choice.

Re: Why was this secret?

#145

Post by garthdog » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 3:02 AM UTC

Just because privacy is worthless to you does not means it's not of value to me. Throw away your privacy but please don't contribute to the meme that privacy is disposable.

Lots of people have secrets that are harmless but can destroy them if they end up in the wrong hands, e.g. homosexuality within a conservative community.

Re: Why was this secret?

#146

Post by dinkumthinkum » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 3:03 AM UTC

Procrastes wrote: post #13

I've often said that the best way to get a quick competitive advantage against our rivals would be to send them our source.

Ok, send me your source.

Re: Why was this secret?

#147

Post by droopybuns » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 3:07 AM UTC

This is bullshit naievete.

Move the clock back 40 years on the romance section. Imagine it references homosexuality, and ask yourself if the author's theme of "what's the big deal" is appropriate.

OP is under the mistaken belief that everyone else shares their morals and mores. They have plenty of time to be rudely defenstrated.

This is the danger of confusing exhibitionism with free-spiritedness.

It is a first-principle error to devalue privacy. OP should be ashamed of themselves. They need to read up on humanity's very short history of tolerance for true individualism. OP should read up on Alan Turing for fuck's sake.

Fuck this fool.

Re: Why was this secret?

#148

Post by sivers » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 3:10 AM UTC

visakanv wrote: post #124

My interpretation of Derek's point: "A lot of us keep things secret for the sake of keeping them secret without particularly evaluating whether the secrecy serves any purpose. On average, this means that there are things that are secret that shouldn't necessarily be. We might all be better off if we were a little more willing to share things that might not actually need to be secret." Not everything needs to be secre…

Thank you Visakan. You got it, and others didn't.

A major challenge in communication is to not be misunderstood. I must not have been clear enough. I never said anywhere that everything should be public. Only that I decided my code and ideas didn't need to be secret.

I think maybe commenters here are reacting more to other commenters, instead of the actual article, now.

Re: Why was this secret?

#149

Post by radioact1ve » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 3:22 AM UTC

grellas wrote: post #101

Why was her diary secret? Well, because she wanted it so. And that should be enough. When it comes to information that any given person regards as intimate about oneself, that should always be enough. It doesn't matter that someone else might peruse that information and say, "there is nothing special here." Why? Because it is not that person's judgment to make. There may be nothing special about my exact bank balance…

Such an amazing answer and no way I could ever word it so eloquently and thoroughly.

Re: Why was this secret?

#150

Post by Jtsummers » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 3:33 AM UTC

YuriNiyazov wrote: post #10

When you open to the public the contents of your instance of Beekeep and Peeps databases, then you will have a point.

FTA: I still believe in privacy. It’s just a matter of questioning which things need to be private, and which things really don’t.

Doesn't this address your attempt at a point? He has some things which he realized he kept private for no reason so he opened them up. The content of peeps is, in fact, not his to share (if I gave you my phone # to contact me, I would not consider it reasonable, without foreknowledge, for you to dump it into a public DB).