Tyranny, security, privacy

I was having a discussion the other day with a friend discussing security vs privacy. I'm not advocating tinfoil hats, but I do consider privacy a right. A fundamental right. Wired has published an interesting article that makes the argument much better than I did. It's about tyranny, not security vs privacy. An excerpt:

'Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." Watch someone long enough, and you'll find something to arrest -- or just blackmail -- with. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused: to peep, to sell to marketers and to spy on political enemies -- whoever they happen to be at the time.'