Whenever i talk to people about privacy, specifically my friends when i tell them why i switched to Signal and stopped using WhatsApp, i’m always met with people saying that i’m just making no sense and “why would you care so much if you have nothing to hide? I don’t care that meta sees that stuff” and some people are just so stubborn to understand that they might even settle on the “what would a billion dollar company want from me specifically?”. It makes me mad how people refuse to even consider alternatives and open their mind a bit. What do you think?
“That’s sad”
Everyone has something to hide. That’s why I’m not posting my online banking password on Facebook or letting anyone install cameras in my toilet.
I do have something to hide. I wear clothes, because I don’t want everybody to see my naked body. I keep my debit card hidden in my wallet, my keys to my car and house hidden in my pockets, my passwords are hidden in my password manager, my phone’s unlock code is a secret, my SSN is hidden on a card in a secure place in my house, which I also lock up securely. I close the stall door when I use the bathroom, I don’t walk around with my medical records taped to my back, I don’t tell people all the invasive dirty or violent thoughts that randomly pop into my head, and I don’t keep my car’s title in the front seat, nor my bank account and routing numbers written on my arm.
And I would wager most other people are the same. All of those are completely legitimate things people have to hide, good reasons to keep them secret and locked away. It has nothing to do with being a criminal, or a sick pervert, or a domestic terrorist, or any of the other bullshit fake “explanations” for why people would value their privacy.
And all that doesn’t even touch issues like systemic corporate or state oppression, data exploitation, or labor repression. It doesn’t touch things like fascist governments coming to power and deciding that certain opinions or expressions of speech are “subversive” and must be banned. How easily “nothing to hide” can become “domestic terrorism” when certain groups come into power.
Ask them for their SSN, bank account number, and how much money they make before taxes.
These are benign, ask them medical stuff, ask about which porn site they visit
A few points:
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“I have nothing to hide,” means you’ve accepted the premise that the burden of innocence is on you. That you are guilty until proven innocent. There are a couple millenia of jurisprudence, saying ‘innocent until proven guilty’ should be the default. The US 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments get close, but they don’t just come out and say it.
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“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.” This has been attributed to a few people from Cardinal Richelieu to Voltaire. But the crux is, anyone can make someone appear guilty. Doesn’t matter if you’re innocent. The burden of proof has to be on the accuser, otherwise it’s down to chaos, and tyrrany of the powerful and the mob.
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Personal privacy by default is one of those fundamental rights that gives us control of a lot of things around us. From freely walking down the street, to our shopping habits, license-plate-readers, location-tracking, who we associate with, and our healthcare.
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Imagine if the rules were changed so any time anyone wanted to use our data, including transactions, web and mobile interactions, credit-card, banking, voting, healthcare, whatever… they had to get explicit, single-use permission. How much weight would be lifted from everyone’s shoulder. It means you, the individual are in charge.
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There’s academic data on the psychological effects of surveillance. It has actual effect on one’s behavior and mental health: https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2024/1/niae039/7920510
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At this point, there are too many privacy leaks. The only reasonable solution is to flip it all on its head. EVERYTHING is private, unless there is a legitimate reason to pierce that veil, and the burden is on those wanting the data.
It’ll have financial impacts on many business models. Yes, and? Do better.
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Theres a quote something along the lines of
“I have nothing to hide; I simply don’t trust someone else’s version of justice." When they want to look though my things.
Just because what you do in your home city is right and legal, doesnt mean it is when you travel, when other governments look at you, when other organizations target you. Nothing to hide just means the collective “they” have more on you specifically. Abortions are a perfect example. Get an abortion in a state that supports it, congrats your tried for murder in a state that doesnt. It doesnt matter that you had it in another place.
Also whats legal now is not garenteed to be legal in the future. Your benign photo op 20 years ago can get you in big trouble. Or just shunned (gay marriage in some places).
So yeah, its in your best interest to be annon.
What is their opinion on datacenters?
“what would a billion dollar company want from me specifically?”
Have their jobs and any potential future job be replaced with datacenters,
so it’ll be impossible for them to have an income in any shape or form.Then why do you close the door when you take a shit?
Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say. - Edward Snowden
Do they know about algorithmic pricing? Most people don’t like the idea of a company charging them more based on how desperate they are.
Do they know about DHS’ new Predictive Policing.
Do they know that scammers can use info they gather about them to run scams on their loved ones pretending to be them?
Do they know that there are legitimate reasons to want privacy? Ex. a journalist investigating a politician or corporation, or a single mom trying to keep themselves and their kids away from a crazy ex.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Well, maybe they actually do have nothing to hide? I’ve recently realised that people who are dependent on Big Tech just don’t value their privacy the same way babies don’t care about being naked in front of other people. If you hand over the responsibility for your life to somebody else, you kind of hand over yourself, too, and there’s no point in seeking privacy anymore. So the actual issue is people’s passiveness and lack of agency in their interaction with tech. If they embrace FOSS, that is being a creator and not just a consumer in the world of software, they’ll start valuing their privacy, just like a teenager learning to be independent simultaneously develops the need for having their own boundaries.
Can I come and search your house? You have nothing to hide so what’s the problem?
Not caring about privacy because you have nothing to hide is the same thing like opposing freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.
“Okay, unlock your phone and hand it over so I can go through it.”
That’s where they all get cold feet. All of them.
I did this once to someone and they were like “ok sure here you go…” I wanted to then check their gallery just to make a point, but I ended up not doing it because it made me so uncomfortable. Guess I won’t be fit as a totalitarian regime leader 😆. I just don’t understand how some people care THAT little for their own privacy.
You might just be in a bubble of privacy-minded people. I know many people who would hand over their phone unlocked at the drop of a hat. Their digital lives just don’t mean anything to them. But more likely, they don’t appreciate the damage someone can do with that access.
Ask to see their butthole
I know people that would actually do that, it’s too risky.
Yeah, way too many people.
