The One Thing Bloomberg Is Nonchalant About: Privacy

As mayor, there’s not an aspect of New Yorkers’ lives that Michael Bloomberg didn’t try to control. Yet when it came to the issue of privacy, he suddenly seemed helpless and resigned. Referring to the increasing use of drones and automated surveillance, he simply shrugged, “you can’t keep the tides from coming in.” Giving in to the notion that, “we’re going to have more visibility and less privacy,” the mayor who tried to stop everything else concluded that, “I don’t see how you stop that.”  Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union said the mayor's nonchalance did nothing to quell legitimate concerns that the government could save the data to analyze it. “It’s disappointing that the mayor shows such disdain for the legitimate concern of New Yorkers about their privacy," she said. "None of us expects that we’ll go unseen when we’re out on the street, but we also have the right to expect that the government isn’t making a permanent record."