I haven't read the book yet (planning to), but there is this thought I keep thinking about and I've mentioned here a few times, that our choice might be that between privacy and continued progress humanity. There are great benefits to the same technologies that "enable mass surveillance", and I feel this angle is underexplored.
(And yes, every time I mention this I secretly hope someone will argue with me, explaining the reasons to fight for so strong privacy we enjoy now (relatively to all the history of humanity) that are different than just belief in the privacy as a basic human right - an axiom which I don't really recognize).
I'm curious how you think that privacy is stronger now than any other time in history?
While the "small town" / "small group" effect was definitely present in the past, if you ran afoul of said group, you could always leave it (and the stigma) behind. Now the Internet allows people to inspect your history wherever you go. It becomes inescapable. This is something that has never existed in the past (aside from becoming so super-infamous that news travels between disparate groups, I guess).
I'm not sure how easily one could leave a small town in, say, feudal Europe. Most serfs lacked travel rights, and while one could escape from their lord's land and move to a city (depending on the country), the cost was prohibitively high[0].
I meant the "small group" effect. I agree it's more difficult than ever to start over after you fall out with your group, but an ordinary person living ordinary, conforming life enjoys more privacy and more expectation of privacy than before.
I feel like that stigma would, to a large degree, be associated with the identity of "outsider" that you'd acquire in leaving the original group. If that group didn't want you, why would we?
(And yes, every time I mention this I secretly hope someone will argue with me, explaining the reasons to fight for so strong privacy we enjoy now (relatively to all the history of humanity) that are different than just belief in the privacy as a basic human right - an axiom which I don't really recognize).