[em-bee]

there is one more thing that i just thought of that could be changed:

change our society in such a way that having and being able to infer private information is no longer anything that anyone can benefit from.

for example if we get rid of money and measuring profits then the profit motive would disappear.

if we educate everyone to be respectful and tolerant then it would no longer be possible to embarrass or blackmail people. in other words, a society where privacy is not needed.

a world where everyones needs are taken care of and that has an abundance of resources would eliminate a lot of crime.

you can see where this is going. but those are long term goals, and they are not things that are easy to do, if they can or even should be done at all. i don't think we'll ever be able to eliminate the need for privacy or prevent all crime.

so legal protection of private data and punishment of abuse will remain necessary.

[pixl97]

And if my grandma had wheels she'd be a bicycle....

>for example if we get rid of money and measuring profits then the profit motive would disappear.

Money is just one particular measure, but it's also a measure of 'something'. If I wasn't collecting money, it would be gold bars, or chunks of land, or widgets. At the end of the day people will find a means of measuring profit. Greed and jealousy will not be removed from humanity any time soon, and possibly ever.

>so legal protection of private data and punishment of abuse will remain necessary.

With that I agree.

[em-bee]

At the end of the day people will find a means of measuring profit

which is why i specifically mentioned both. it's not just getting rid of money but the concept and need for profit as a whole. i am not suggesting that this should be done, or that it even can be done, but that it would be necessary if we want to remove any motive of people profiting from collecting and analyzing private data.

and therefore legal protection and punishment, severe punishment, are the only means that at this point can be practically implemented.