[ View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

BGonline.org Forums

My turn

Posted By: Matt Cohn-Geier
Date: Wednesday, 8 August 2007, at 8:50 p.m.

In Response To: My turn (Chuck Bower)

I'll admit I articulated this rather obscurely. I guess that's because it wasn't completely clear in my mind. The idea is something like the argument you sketched out: let's set up a game where players have a choice to enter into an agreement by which everyone, including oneself, forfeits their privacy. Assume that if people are doing illegal things, then some other people are hindered by them. Assume that having privacy holds no value if one isn't doing illegal things, i.e. players who are not doing illegal things are indifferent between having privacy and not having privacy. For law-abiding individuals, sacrificing their own privacy is weakly dominant because they are indifferent between having privacy and not having privacy. Thus if they gain from sacrificing their privacy (in this case, entering into an agreement by which not-so-abiding people forfeit their privacy), they should do so.

The structure of the game could be set up differently with different assumptions (e.g. it might also be a dominant strategy for not-so-abiding people to forfeit their privacy), but I think that roughly captures the idea of the argument, complete with game-theoretic terminology.

Messages In This Thread

 

Post Response
Your Name:
Your E-Mail Address:
Subject:
Message:

If necessary, enter your password below:

Password:
 

 

[ View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.