What have you got to hide?

It's one of the standard lines of argument for more surveillance - what have you got to hide? Well, I have a great deal to hide, and perfectly good reasons to hide it.

This argument implicitly assumes that none of the people in law enforcement who would be running this surveillance are corrupt. To which I say, as long as we're going to play pretend, why not pretend there are no criminals? Then we wouldn't need surveillance.

So let's imagine that there are, in fact, bad people with access to the system. Attracted there by that very power; corrupted in place; or falsely believing themselves to be working for the greater good. What can they reveal that I'd rather have hidden?

• I'm currently organizing a major protest against a new development by Megacorp. It'll be disastrous for my suburb, but it'll make a heap of money for the owners. I don't want them knowing where or when the next protest will be.
• I've been leaking evidence to the press of corruption in the local bureaucracy. I don't want anyone seeing me meet the journalist involved.
• I've been phoning in anonymous tips about drug dealers in the area, and getting them busted. And also I think I spotted where their lab is. I don't want anyone to know it was me.
• My child is a local celebrity, and the gossip mags are always trying to get pictures or rumors or dirt.
• My business has come up with a way to cut the cost of our product in half. We're developing it at top speed, and we don't want anyone getting in first.
• I'm going on holiday next week, and I don't want anyone taking the opportunity to break into my house.

And that's just the stuff I actively want hidden. There are a host of things that surveillance makes possible for dealing with people who are inconvenient to those in power:

• Have you read through all the laws that apply to you lately? Just kidding. There's a core of common sense, but around that is a vast thicket of arcane corners to get lost in. What are the odds that I could find a law you're breaking, if I looked hard enough?
• If you know where someone is at all times, it becomes much easier to frame them. Especially if they are trying to hide something - anything - from other people. You don't even need to make a case that will get a conviction; simply tying them up in years of court dates and legal expenses may be enough, not to mention the publicity effects of the "scandal".
• There's no need to directly go after the inconvenient person. You can often get the result by simply creating chaos in their personal lives. Find a spouse, a sibling, a child or a parent with a skeleton in the closet; expose it at the worst possible time.

I'm sure you can think of more. Knowledge is power, and the more of it you have the easier it is to remove obstacles from your way. Mere selective enforcement of the law is often enough, as any disliked minority can tell you.

My real life is - thankfully - nothing like what I've described above. But the people whose lives are like that are incredibly important to everyone else. The ones who stand up and fight against the powerful are rare and vital. I for one am prepared to tolerate a slightly higher risk of the crime du jour (drugs, terrorism, communists, etc) in the interests of keeping society free of entrenched corruption.

When you are thinking about security measures, it's important to bear in mind all of the threats you face, not merely the most spectacular or recent.