[jnorthrop]

Privacy matters at this moment in time for few reasons. There is little risk to an individual's rights due to profiling based on available information (which is the result of no or limited privacy). That doesn't mean there is no risk, but for most of us the risk is negligible.

However, in the not-so-distant future it will be a much bigger deal. As data about our personal lives becomes more accessible and prolific, especially with the growth of IoT devices, and we get better at those big data profiling techniques we will see wider uses of profiling beyond nation security and marketing purposes. It is not hard to imagine a future where universities profile potential students based on available data and eliminate those deemed unfit (without ever looking at an application). Or employers doing similar things. Or insurance companies basing rates on profiling information.

Reasonable scenarios become easy to imagine with the end result that discrimination becomes commonplace. Discrimination for those that listen to a certain type of music, or use a certain type of grammar, or view certain websites. That is a dangerous future and we are heading down that path. We, as a society, need to figure out how to address this before it is a problem, and paramount to successfully thwarting that type of future is to ensure we maintain our privacy. That is why privacy matters.

[mrfusion]

So I realized you're describing GATTICA but based on private information instead of DNA.

[mkr-hn]

> private information instead of DNA.

The distinction gets blurrier every year.

[hawleyal]

Universities, employers, and insurance companies already do that.