Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The 3 of Hearts, “No Harm”

Okay, my industry lobbyists in training. You’ve said “no problem” over and over. You’ve dismissed problems as attributable to bad apples, or diminished the problem as a “mere inconvenience.” But people still seem to think that the problem that doesn’t exist still exists. You’re getting more and more press calls on the non-existent problem. What next?

Simple. No harm. The problem that doesn’t exist doesn’t cause harm, so there’s no problem.

Denalists’ definition of harm typically is elusive. They won’t acknowledge harm until blood is spilled, but when that happens, it can always be blamed on a “bad apple.”

Here’s an example concerning digital video recorders and their ability to monitor every second of viewing behavior (combined with the 2 of Clubs!): “…the Information Technology Association of America…opposes television privacy proposals. ‘We’re not quite sure there really is a harm that needs to be addressed,’ said Mark Uncapher…of the ITAA. Uncapher said most digital video recorder-makers have strict internal privacy policies, and called the scenarios…’phantom’ privacy problems.” Lisa Friedman, But Who’s Watching Tivo? Congress Concerned About Makers Selling Private Information, The Daily News of Los Angeles, Dec. 1, 2003.