For years, clients asked us what was the REAL cost of non-compliance (with HIPAA, PCI, etc).  Thankfully, Dr. Ponemon & his team put some real numbers to the cost of breaches.

Now, I’m constantly asked “what’s the harm in posting on facebook”, “using dropbox or google drive”, “buying Google glasses” or “why should we care about drones – video cameras watch us anyway”.

Prof. Neil Richards is diving head-on into this pool and he’s got some smart things to say.

From his abstract:

First, we must recognize that surveillance transcends the public-private divide. Even if we are ultimately more concerned with government surveillance, any solution must grapple with the complex relationships between government and corporate watchers. Second, we must recognize that secret surveillance is illegitimate, and prohibit the creation of any domestic surveillance programs whose existence is secret. Third, we should recognize that total surveillance is illegitimate and reject the idea that it is acceptable for the government to record all Internet activity without authorization. Fourth, we must recognize that surveillance is harmful. Surveillance menaces intellectual privacy and increases the risk of blackmail, coercion, and discrimination; accordingly, we must recognize surveillance as a harm in constitutional standing doctrine.

via The Dangers of Surveillance by Neil Richards :: SSRN.

Also look at what Bruce Schneier has to say about it at http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/03/the_dangers_of.html