I wish I could be open about all these things. I really do. Unfortunately, society currently expects us to keep some information private. A lot of things, such as private-key cryptography, actually rely on this very secrecy.
Privacy sustains an intolerance that prohibits me from sharing this information publicly. This is the precise reason why I think we should get away from privacy.
There's few things I want more than being able to be 100% honest with myself and others, and never have to tell another lie, but this won't be possible as long as we value privacy so much.
My desire for privacy in no way affects your actions. You are free to reply to my questions at any time. In fact, many people share all sorts of personal information about themselves on their blogs and here on HN.
"There's few things I want more than being able to be 100% honest with myself and others, and never have to tell another lie..."
There's a difference between telling lies and not making personal information about yourself public. In all my postings on HN, I've never told a lie, but you wouldn't know much personal information about me other than my approximate age and city of residence.
You may think that privacy is the "bottleneck of social progress". However, people like me, who prefer to live our lives free from public scrutiny and judgement (not to mention government surveillance), don't wish for the same things you do. The prospect of living in a world where people who don't have Facebook and LinkedIn accounts are considered suspicious and unemployable is not appealing to me.
- Your name, address, phone number
- Your place of employment, income from all sources, net worth and valuation of your major assets (house, car, investments, etc.)
- All your social media accounts (please make sure that all information you've ever posted there is publicly accessible)
- Your credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security number
- A list of political candidates you voted for or contributed money to
- Your religious background and current beliefs (if any)
- The names of all your friends, relatives and children
- Your health history, including any psychiatric problems you've ever suffered from
- A list of all illegal drugs you've ever tried (or other illegal acts you may have committed)
- Your sexual orientation, sexual preferences and a list of all your sexual partners
- Any other personal information you'd like to share with us