For all the talk of privacy on slashdot you’d think everyone and their uncle would be submitting this story. Haven’t seen it there yet, though. Sure there aren’t any gadgets involved, but if Uncle Sam can poke his nose in this area then you better believe he won’t care at all about probing your computer. Privacy is a group of behaviors and conditions; the more areas of strength there are, the better privacy can be maintained. In the case at hand, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote “Liberty protects the person from unwarranted government intrusions into a dwelling or other private places.”
The U. S. Supreme Court today ruled that the anti-sodomy laws of Texas (at least) are unconstitutional. If you are having a hard time understanding how criminalization of homosexuality might influence technology / encryption / computers / mathematics / artifical intelligence / etc. (you know, the stuff you read at slashdot every day), take some time to learn about Alan Turing.
Read the majority and dissenting opinions in PDF, or follow the links at daze reader. With so many challenges to privacy and so many setbacks, we should be ready to celebrate our victories. Here’s to sodomy!
