It is human nature to try to keep secrets, yet we are also all curious, some of us dangerously so. It has gotten many into trouble and has put men behind bars. There are some who claim that our curiosity helps protect us. If we didn't know something, we could be hurt. Yet people use this as an excuse to be curious, trying to piece together secrets and learn of the past. There are secrets in business, interpersonal relationships and especially in politics and government. In some cases, we should be less private, for our safety and well-being. In other cases, we have to be more private, for privacy protects you from others. Both have to coexist simultaneously.

The fight between privacy and our own safety has had a long heavily debated history. From hacker group ideals against big business and big government, there are many reasons to debate. On one side, our government may be hiding something they don't want us to know. We have a right to be curious and as such should know it. If something "big" happens we, in this free country, know it. It is for our own safety. However, on the other side, we're dealing with paranoid entities that might compromise the operation. Confidential information is not to be known. It could allow terrorist groups such as Anonymous to seriously take advantage of us and harm our lives. It's also for our own safety. The saying goes: "it's two sides of the same coin". There must be a balance between privacy and knowledge.

At any moment, media and hacker advocates discover the "next big scoop". Not everything stated on the media is true, and opportunists use the mass media to create lies and confusion. The reason for doing so is for their own gain, possibly harming your own. Recently there was this website claiming that the Great Republic of China owed the United States money, not the other way around. It claimed, falsely that China owed a lot of cash from the 1980's to America and that it will automatically send an email to every senator asking for help if you clicked on the link. It creates lack of trust between the two nations, if the website was to be believed. Of course, China is well known for its propaganda, which can be just as bad. Not only does it try to prevent politically unacceptable knowledge from being spread, it claims that it's trying to prevent misinformation. That's true, however, they are spreading the misinformation themselves, negating the positive effect. China is trying to pry into people's business for the "safety" of their people, but the only ones protected are the ones with power. Hackers and activists then pry into confidential information