privacy is not a purely selfish good
Here is a great essay on privacy from Daniel (digital Person) Solove (h/t: Bruce Schneier). Solove begins by stressing the importance of grappling with the authoritarian-enabling rationalizations of the “nothing to hide” argument, as it “reflects the sentiments of a wide percentage of the population.” He then thoroughly dismantles it, and explains that privacy is a social good as much as an individual one:
Surveillance can create chilling effects on people’s conduct by chilling free speech, free association, and other First Amendment rights essential for democracy. Even surveillance of legal activities can inhibit people from engaging in them. It might be that particular people may not be chilled by surveillance – indeed, probably most people will not be except those engaging in particularly unpopular speech or associating with disfavored groups. The value of protecting against such chilling is not measured simply in terms of the value to those particular individuals. Chilling effects harm society because, among other things, they reduce the range of viewpoints being expressed and the degree of freedom with which to engage in political activity. [emphases added]