Just came up with my father again.
He blames me that mother forgot her phone’s and Google password because I recommended against it being a word.
I mentioned encryption, “not necessary unless you’re doing something illegal”.
When mentioning lack of privacy with targeted advertisements, he said that he actually really likes them, because he bought a couple of things he wanted for years.
I don’t really have good arguments.
If I was to answer that type of argument, I would consider those:
- why do you close the door of the bathroom when you use it?
- Can I watch you fuck?
- Show me your last income declaration
- Give me your credit card
- Why do you wear clothing?
- Why do you lock the door of the house?
but I tend to ignore people using the “I have nothing to hide” argument
Also: why does your wife, mom, daughter close the bathroom door? Do you watch your mom or daughter fuck?
That persons opinion of privacy would affect other people too.
I just be direct.
The people making this argument have already built an implicit stage in their mind where they’re talking about when authority is trying to investigate you for being “one of the bad ones.”
They’re not “counting” personal privacy in this context like modesty and personal private space.
I just say “Because when the long arc of history swings the other way like it has for thousands of years, do you want your scary, blue-haired antifa boogymen to have the power to investigate you and your personal life and habits?”
If it’s a male conservative, you can have great success with “So if someone says they need to check your hard drive for every image and video you’ve ever looked at, you’re fine with that? I know a guy who can immediately restore every file you’ve ever deleted.”
Sometimes they turn white.
“arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden
I posted the following somewhere else recently:
“nothing to hide”
Secrecy and privacy are two different things.
Secrecy is hiding something you don’t want anyone to know because it’s “Bad/illegal”.
Privacy is acknowledging that it’s none of ANYONE’S business where you put gas in your car, what route you drive home, what brand of underwear you buy, what kind of music you listen to, your eating habits, etc…
The more you are ok with data being collected, the more data they will try to collect until finally your life isn’t yours anymore.
You don’t close the bathroom door because you’re doing something illegal, you close the bathroom door because it’s none of anyone’s business and you aren’t interested in being watched.
Our personal data is valuable and holds power over us. Unfortunately it’s only been recent decades that this concept REALLY started to sink in and unfortunately big corporations figured it out a little quicker than we did
I’m reminded of a story I heard about a woman in South America (I don’t remember the country.) Her best friend attended a protest one year. She makes a post on Facebook about supporting her best friend. A few years pass, and the government started becoming more and more authoritarian. Finally, she gets a visit from the police, asking about her ties to her best friend, and is threatened with arrest unless she can prove she’s not tied to the protest as well.
I’m probably getting some details wrong, but it’s a thought that stuck with me. She didn’t have anything to hide at the time. But things change, and you can’t always predict what you’ll have wish you had kept private before.
“Why do you shit with the door closed? What are you doing there, drugs?”
Surprised I didn’t see this quote yet:
“Ultimately, arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” ― Edward Snowden
“I need privacy not because my actions are questionable, but because your judgement and intentions are.”
“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.”
Cardinal Richelieu
Compare it to free speech. Saying you don’t need privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don’t need free speech because you have nothing to say. Eventually, through no fault of your own, there will come a time when you have something worth saying or hiding, and you will regret having surrendered your right to do so.
Another way to put it is: I don’t need privacy because my judgment and intentions are shady, but because the authorities’ judgment and intentions are, or one day will be. Allowing the authorities to invade your privacy and suppress your speech diminishes your ability to hold them accountable.
While targeted advertisements may be nice because it’s only showing you things that they think that you’ll want/need/like, the other side of surveillance based advertising is surveillance pricing.
Surveillance pricing analyzes massive troves of your personal information to predict the price you would be willing to pay for an item—and charge you accordingly. Retailers can charge a higher price when it thinks you can afford to spend more—on payday, for example. Or when you need something the most, such as in an emergency.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/08/fight-surveillance-pricing-we-need-privacy-first
Give me the man and I will give you the case against him is a saying that was popularized in the Soviet Union and in Poland in the period of the People’s Republic of Poland, attributed to the Stalinist jurist Andrey Vyshinsky,[2][5]: 200 [6] or the Soviet secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria.[3][4] It refers to the miscarriage of justice in the form of the abuse of power by the jurists, who could find any defendant guilty of “something”, if they so desired
You can find just about anyone guilty of something if you have access to everything they do/say
When mentioning lack of privacy with targeted advertisements, he said that he actually really likes them, because he bought a couple of things he wanted for years.
“It’s ok that we’re being spied, it lets people better take my money on stuff I wanted anyway”
Richelieu had them beat by 400 years:
“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.”
Cardinal Richelieu
First and foremost, I equate privacy with dignity and respect.
But now it’s also a matter of self defense. A woman in Texas does not want to be caught looking up abortion clinics. An immigrant searching for legal council could find themselves visited by ICE. An idle comment that you are anti-fascist could end up labeling you as a domestic terrorist. A tasteless joke you posted as a teenager could cost you a job as an adult.
Fifteen years ago my mother was on Facebook and the algorithm figured out she had breast cancer. She was flooded with quack cures and ads for clinics in Mexico. She didn’t fall for, but if she had, it could have killed her.
It isn’t just about Amazon trying to sell you a toilet seat. The stakes are higher than that.
“Take your pants off then jackass.”
It’s a stupid comment, treat it with the contempt it deserves. Do they shut the door when they take a shit? whyyyyyy???. You close your blinds there at night? Why ya lockin’ the phone there buddy.
Have the IRS audit him…
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Something you don’t need to hide today may be something you need to hide tomorrow. And there’s no going back.
Great, can you give me your phone and unlock it so I can scroll through it?
You have nothing to hide right? Also if you could keep the door to the bathroom open that’d be great!
Usually gets the point across very quickly
