CBC and others have reported on the work of Canada’s privacy commissioner, who is about to end her term in that position. I have tended not to be too concerned about such things, thinking that if I have nothing to hide, I don’t need to worry. Something in this report made me think that is probably a naive attitude. The commissioner makes the observation that more and more information, about all of us, is in the hands of fewer and fewer organizations. We often hear about how more and more money is in the hands of fewer and fewer – the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. This points out that a similar thing is happening with information. I suspect if one were to dig into this more deeply, one would find at least some correlation between the two kinds of wealth: money and information. That adds up to immense power, and power, inevitably, gets abused. That’s a concern for all of us. So maybe I should stop being so naive, and we all should pay a bit more attention to these things.
The Book of Revelation has something to say about the coming together of various kinds of power, and demanding our allegiance and even worship. There are forces in whose interest it is to keep us in a state of fear and dissatisfaction, so we will depend on them and they will profit by us. This is something we can do something about, by being discerning, and making wise choices.
Meanwhile, it is also not a bad thing to keep from having anything you feel you need to hide.