People often quote the famous remark of Ben Franklin, “[t]hey who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”, to criticize governments’ attempts of storing digital data generated by netizens, especially for those people living in West Europa, where privacy is regarded as one of the most important human rights. However, not to mention the justice of such measures taken by governements, there is perhaps a misinterpretation of the remark of Franklin made by people who quoted it. In order to understand the remark it would be better to go back to the context in which Franklin expressed it. In his article “What Ben Frankflin Really Said”, Benjamin Wittes well elucidated the real meaning of liberty and safety in Franklin’s context. In short, what Franklin meant under the word “liberty” was the liberty of Pennsylvania Assembly to levy a tax on the Penn Family’s lands for financing the French and Indian Wars, while “purchase a temporary safety” refers to Penn Family’s attempt to avoidance of being taxed by offering some financial support for the wars.

Last modified on 2015-07-12