[ethbro]

I think the reasoning proceed from two different opinions of the citizenry.

It's my opinion that in any reasonably developed and old democracy a majority of the population are currently criminals in the sense that they have broken at least one law.

In reality, that law is either trivial, inconsistently enforced, or generally ignored. But the important thing is that it's still on the books as the law of the land, and therefore makes the citizen prosecutable in a court of law.Whether or not that individual is prosecuted then becomes the folly of most systems -- a choice that can be arbitrarily made (as it's never incorrect for the government to enforce its current laws, even if it can be unjust).

As a consequence of all the above... pre-investigation is tantamount to power-to-convict. And privacy is the only effective deterrent against "I would like to find some crime you're guilty of and then charge you with it because {unrelated and non-legally-based rationale}". Imho, this is the fundamental and most dangerous type of corruption a democracy can fall institutional victim to, because it only requires that there be a large number of rarely-enforced laws on the book (a systemic weakness of democracy where repealing a law takes more effort than leaving it valid) and individuals of questionable motive (human nature) in positions of power.

(I'm perfectly willing to accept that others may have a different viewpoint on democracy, but I think I historical support as to this is the actual way a mature legal system functions)

[jacquesm]

Those are called 'fishing expeditions'. And given the complexity of the legal system if someone is active in enough fields there will always be something they did that you can use to throw the book at them. You'd have to live like a hermit not to break the occasional law. What is harder to establish is how many of these transgressions would be serious enough to materially impact someone or to cause them to go to jail.

In countries where legal expenses are high and punishments are sever (i.e. the USA) it can be trivial to find something damning enough to put someone behind bars. In countries where the bar for prison sentencing is substantially higher and legal costs are more manageable the most authorities could do is waste someone's time. This is one of those aspects in which societies the world over markedly differ.

[caskance]

You've described a problem privacy only exacerbates. Complete enforcement is the best way to get bad laws adjusted or removed. Privacy makes that harder.

[ethbro]

Disagree. Money always buys privacy / leniency.

In a completely transparent system, you'll still have bad or questionable laws. You'll just have them only applied to people who can't buy their way out.

Unless complete transparency also solves the corruption problem. ;)

[caskance]

Historically, true. But we are rapidly approaching the point where there will be no privacy available to buy.