A headline today reads: “Obama Defends NSA, Says America Has To Make Choices Between Privacy And Security”. This is in the wake of the revelation that government programs sweep up 3 billion phone calls a day and amass Internet data from U.S. providers, supposedly to thwart terror attacks.

Because of the fear of the few, the many are punished.

Deer have killed more people than sharks. And deer have killed more people than terrorists.

But fear is irrational. And fear makes slaves of the fearful.

The interesting thing about privacy is, the data by itself isn’t intrinsically dangerous. What makes data dangerous is when it is possible to trace data back to the owner of the data.

For example, would you tell a stranger where you live?

Of course not. But on the other hand, we all live somewhere. We all have addresses.

Just the nature of you going about your business somewhere implies that you live in the area. But that’s still okay, because if you tell someone you live in San Francisco, California, you’re declaring that you’re one of 8.3 million people who live in one of the homes in the city. This knowledge of your address by itself isn’t special. Everyone lives somewhere and all homes have addresses.

The problem comes when someone has the key piece of information linking you with your address.

This decoupling of data from identity is the fundamental principle of the Inn. It is safe to reveal your secrets because The Inn never sees the key piece of information that puts your privacy at risk:  the thread that connects to who you are.