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?
When people say this they’re completely missing the point. First, when someone says “I have nothing to hide”, they are assuming that whoever is watching or monitoring or surveiling them share the same values they do. You decide to do something and you don’t care who knows it because you think “there’s nothing wrong with this”. What if who is watching you decides "there is something wrong with that? The second point is that, even if you have just the slightest inkling that someone might know what you’re thinking or doing, you think and act differently. It’s psychology.
“Let me take a quick look through your browser history to confirm that you in fact have nothing to hide.”
“Unlock your phone and hand it to me”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought”
Idk you’re basically asking people to think in a way that they really don’t process info. Its akin to being like “in order to understand my point you have to complete this trigonometry problem” and they’re just gonna go, “nah” and then revert to their heuristic.
They might like Facebook, or really rely on google. So all you can do is talk a little bit about alternatives. Since all these companies spy and steal data, they are speaking from a place of like resignation. Asking to stop using any service is kind of a maximum demand, not in essence (I actually don’t believe in min/max political demands) but in affect. Its like, to stop using google would be a major change, require some intimidating technical expertise (are you gonna offer IT support for their Grapheme phone/Linux Mint computer?) and then all the other services are just gonna steal their data anyways. Leaving Facebook is scary and hard, its like an addiction. And like all addictions you can fully know that something is wrong, and still be afraid or fail to quit it. There has to be a breaking point and you’re not gonna be able to offer that in one conversation.
The better strategy is to try and find common ground on problems that people are concerned about, like data centers, and then offer actions or political leadership. If we really care about an issue, then the best method I have found is to schedule one on ones and try and draw people into work. If you want to teach then you need a theory of pedagogy and the idea that good ideas can replace bad ideas is fundamentally broken.
do you shit with the door open , let me. take a few pics of you doing that
hand over your phone and let me take a look.
Lock eyes and unzip their pants.
I tell them privacy is a human right, that I don’t need to come up with justifications for why I don’t want to be exploited, and that you’re only conditioned not to care.
If they don’t see my point then I say OK then.
Ask them for their social security number and credit card with ccv code.
Shift the conversation towards autonomy, dignity and self-respect.
The user’s interaction with the-billion-dollar-company’s software is unpaid labour, which is why they profit and the user suffers. They suffer from having their data stolen; they suffer the expenses fostered on to them; they pay for the computers that spy on them; they pay for the electricity to run the spyware; they pay for the data-subscriptions that facilitate the theft of their data. They cover all the expenses of a billion-dollar-company and are deprived of any profit. They do not even garner a wage.
If one wishes to move towards the point of “my data is worthless” point out the company’s profits or even its speculative valuations. Clearly it’s not worthless. The products that are derived from their exploitation lead to even greater profits for those companies. “A.I.” is a looting of the collective commons. A privatization of humanity’s interaction with computers.
Do they like being exploited? Do they like their batteries draining faster, because their mobile-computer is running software to spy on them? Do they like running out of data because their mobile-computer is forcefully downloading ads and spyware-updates? Do they like ads? Do they like being interrupted by the highest bidder? Do they like annoying notifications that are just ads? Do they like this shitty experience? Are they complete docile slaves? They are less than wage-slaves for they do not even garner a wage! Have some self-respect and dignity!
“Can I come watch next time you and your partner have sexy times?”
do you shit with the door open?
I hate this argument.
why?
everyone shits, everyone knows everyone shits, every one knows what the person in the dedicated shitting room is doing
yet we all close the door
You have nothing to hide until what was once acceptable rapidly changes.
That’s the angle I take. Its fine now, sure. What about when Nazis end up in charge again?
And then all the sudden you’re a conspiracy nut to be disregarded, all the while they’re saying it and doing it out loud and in broad daylight.
The big perspective shift for me, is not that I feel obliged to privacy in public. It’s when the institution observing is so big and centralised that it becomes a power issue. I don’t care if you (the people) see all that I do in public, I have nothing to hide. I do care when your agenda is to see everything and gain power from it.
- me some time ago
That is a good response. The problem is though they are also collecting data when we are in private. Look at what LG and I grantee you other smart TVs are doing.
“If you have nothing to hide, you must be one boring-ass, useless mutherfucker.”
Let me your phone unblocked and tell me your banking app password then
