&gt; <i>normal people (the 80% in your example) don&#x27;t really want to be involved in oppressing or abusing anyone</i><p>Salem Village? Persecution of hackers (ongoing)? Drug hysteria (ongoing)? &quot;Terrorism&quot; (ongoing)? Heck, the privacy issue is itself an instance. Even if we disagree about the utility of privacy, surely you should accept that it could have value to others!<p>In my experience, people are quite ready to support draconian &quot;justice&quot; against nonconforming behavior. They don&#x27;t &quot;see them as real human beings&quot; because the victims are dehumanized as a different tribe. Direct violence based on traditional distinctions seems to be fading, but I&#x27;m not going to bet the farm based on short-term history. The general phenomenon certainly has found new avenues - eg the recent trend of bullying via social media.<p>If you haven&#x27;t developed the intuition that group dynamics can turn horribly wrong, then I don&#x27;t know how I could convince you that being able to hide from the majority is a valuable thing. <i>Most</i> people will not understand this - themselves being part of the oppressive majority (see: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scottaaronson.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;?p=2346" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scottaaronson.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;?p=2346</a>). No worries, I&#x27;ll continue to preserve my privacy in every way possible!