But my father survived because people risked their lives to get him food. And he too got an affirmative pleasure out of being helpful to people. For me, the idea of altruism and selfishness merge because I enjoy helping people. I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility to do it. If it was, I wouldn’t enjoy doing it.
Reason: What other thinkers influenced you?
Kozinski: Milton Friedman. I have an undergraduate degree in economics. I had all the classical economists, and that helped. Adam Smith, David Ricardo. They ground me in economics. I went to UCLA as an undergraduate, and at that time the economics department of UCLA was known as University of Chicago at Los Angeles. Then around 1969, I went to a libertarian rally at the University of Southern California across town, and there were copies of Reason magazine. That was my introduction to Reason.
Reason: Would you say that the world is getting more or less libertarian?
Kozinski: The world is probably getting more libertarian. Modern communications and modern trade are making it very difficult for modern governments to exercise controls. You can no longer keep ideas out of China. People can log onto the Internet; they’ve got television. It essentially becomes impossible to block ideas.
Reason: There is a countervailing tendency in technology: It also allows the authorities—whether the government or your employer—to keep tabs on you.
Kozinski: It is certainly easier to keep track of people, and that will be a threat to privacy. But I think people can work around it once they realize that they live in a fish bowl. They will take defensive measures. For instance, you don’t have to walk around with a cell phone if you don’t want to be tracked. You don’t have to use the Internet.
Reason: Has this new technology made us freer if we have to be afraid?
Kozinski: You don’t always need complete privacy. There are ways of getting it if you want it.
Reason: Can the courts play a role in protecting the freedom and privacy of individuals from their government or employers?
Kozinski: People tend to depend too much on the courts for protecting their liberties. Courts have a role to play, but people basically have to protect themselves by changing their behavior. If you are worried about outside people monitoring your e-mails, don’t e-mail. If you don’t want your actions tracked via a credit card, pay cash.
Reason: But isn’t the whole point of living in a free society that you have more and more choices? Your choices should grow with technology. If people have to act defensively, then technology is limiting their choices—or at least not advancing them very much.
Kozinski: If you can set up an e-mail system using your own servers, using nobody else’s lines, then you can have a perfectly secure system. You want to use other people’s telephone lines and other people’s networks, and you want to be protected from being monitored by them. You can try to sort out your privacy concerns contractually with your provider or employer, but it should be up to you.
Reason: But what about the government’s ability to access private information?
Kozinski: Government can get this information if you’re involved in suspected criminal activity. There are limits in a criminal investigation. They can’t come into your house and search for contraband without having probable cause. So they need a certain amount of evidence of criminal activity to invade your privacy and obtain your Internet records or anything else.
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Judge Alex Kozinski: The Fourth Amendment is Gone. "Welcome to the fish bowl." | The links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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