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03/28/2005: "Love your country, but don't trust your government"

When a government is benign, interfering little with its citizens, and is just and is seen to do justice, then its citizens are likely to trust it. They won't mind letting it know many things about themselves.

When a government is irrational and intrusive, when corruption goes unpunished, when it accuses others of evil while doing those same evils itself, when civil rights disappear without warning, then its citizens should be more circumspect, at least if they want to stay alive and free.

It's easier to administer a police state if you have complete and up-to-date records about every person; it may be impossible to administer one in the absence of such records. The mere act of creating such records makes it likely that corrupt people would be drawn to positions of power, where they could use those records to gain even more power.

John Gilmore (as quoted on Interesting People)