Orin Kerr writes:
Having waded through hundreds of responses to my posts on Apple’s new iOS8, I wanted to ask two related questions to the many readers who were critical of (and in some cases, deeply hostile to) my initial post. The first question is the “where would you draw the line” question, and the second is “what is the privacy tradeoff” question. I set them out below, and then I ask for your feedback.
Before I get to the questions, I want to add, if it’s not clear from my prior posts, that I’m asking these questions genuinely hoping to learn from the answers. I’m trying to work through the issues myself, and I’m trying to get a sense of where people are coming from to figure out what I think. Given that, it would be very helpful if readers would actually take the questions seriously rather than just express anger that the questions are being asked or speculate about what corrupt motives prompted them. If you think the answers are obvious and people who don’t see it are idiots, then take it slowly and explain your view in a way that even an idiot can understand. Not everyone thinks the issues are so simple, and it’s hard to persuade people unless you take them through your reasoning.
Read more on The Volokh Conspiracy.
When a law professor whose scholarship is cited in court opinions asks for constructive feedback as he attempts to think through an issue, it would be helpful to all of us his questions received a thoughtful response.
For background, you may wish to read Orin’s previous posts: