MSNBC releases privacy poll

MSNBC has released a poll on privacy in America. It turns out that in many ways, we in the U.S. have no clue what to think.

The poll, unfortunately, is not scientific. It was taken by msnbc.com users who volunteered, undoubtedly skewing the results in the direction of Internet news junkies' opinions.

The results show that Americans are "uneasy" about their privacy, but that 40 percent said they would submit to voluntary fingerprinting, 60 percent said they'd be fine carrying an ID card with a biometric device and 20 percent said they'd have microchips implanted under their skin.

When it comes to privacy, it's important to weight the upsides as well as the downsides to public and private encroachment. The government, for example, could save lives by better tracking medical histories. Private corporations, as shown in this Reason article, can perform more efficiently with more data on their customers (ever notice how Amazon ads seem targeted to you, to the point of not matching the Web site you're on at all?).

Indeed, one trend in the poll is that "convenience trumps privacy," which, though neither the MSNBC analysis nor the poll respondents would say as much, translates to "business records good, government records bad." People, by and large, get supermarket coupon cards, etc., if it means lower prices and faster checkout times.

Even the question of government invading privacy is an interesting one -- setting aside whether a right to privacy exists in the Constitution. Few people, save the most dedicated and ridiculous privacy buffs (the type of people who refuse to provide a phone number when writing out a check, or question the motives of small-town newspaper reporters writing puff pieces...not that I've experienced those things!), actually believe the American government will use information to hunt down innocent people.

While most polled rightly objected to the government reading e-mails or listening to phone calls, this really isn't an issue: There's no evidence the government currently does that to non-crime/terror suspects. By and large, privacy in relation to the government is more an issue of claiming rights whenever possible, regardless of whether said rights are important to or likely to affect an individual.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.