Privacy brings security under totalitarian regimes or in countries that shift in that direction. They might say if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, but there are unjust conditions under which you have to hide things, like that you belong to minority that is targeted by the authorities. Like the nazis did in the third reich, where privacy was reduced during their takeover. Or that you belong to a party that is suddenly framed as evil and enemies of the nation. Or if you have connections to “traitors” or other “scum”.

This was a reply I posted on “What should I say when someone says they “don’t have anything to hide”?” In ask Lemmy a week ago, and I think it’s still applicable here

They don’t choose what they need to hide, if their government outlaws woodworking tomorrow, then any carpenters today go from “having nothing to hide” to “I need to hide my entire career and hobby” overnight and in their sleep.

And then the government threatens Facebook to hand over messages from any user suspected of woodworking, and then they get persecuted and arrested

The government threatens Google to hand over all browser history from suspected woodworkers, Apple for all iCloud photos from suspected woodworkers, Amazon for all woodworking related purchases

It goes on

If the carpenter cared about privacy from the start, then the government just wouldn’t be able to find them and arrest them for simply woodworking

But the carpenter didn’t care about privacy, they “had nothing to hide” yesterday, so when that law goes into effect tomorrow the government will have a really easy time finding them

Well…

1. Target once used small amounts of shopping data to accurately predict women were pregnant before they themselves knew.

2. A Nebraska PD got data from Facebook to prove a woman had an abortion recently and prosecuted her.

3. you don’t know what will become illegal

So, even small amounts of data can predict lots of things about your life. The government has a track record of using that data to prosecute you. And you cannot trust the Government will always align with your morals (assuming it even does right now).

And that doesn’t even consider other entities & organizations in the world.

What if an insurance company wants uses public data about you to deny you coverage? What if someone is searching for people in the area with ideal houses to rob and you’re on vacation? What if they use a deepfake of a loved one to scam you? Steal your identity and ruin your credit? What if they make and sell deepfake porn made of you or a loved one? What if they create meticulously engineered political psyop campaigns hand-tailored to exploit your psychology? What if this list of “what ifs” could go on nearly forever, and some “what ifs” aren’t even things we’re capable of knowing about?

Because that last one is absolutely true, all the rest of those are true for someone, and at least one of them is probably true for you already.

Ok, but what if you don’t care?..well someone else in your life does. And even if they have impeccable data privacy habits, if enough of their friends and family don’t, then they’re just a single missing puzzle piece, and everyone can still see their shape.

Not to mention, you contribute to a pool of data that’s used to perform these kinds of analyses on society at large, meaning you contribute in some part to each and every instance of malicious data use towards anyone, anywhere.

Is that a good enough reason to care?

Honestly, sometimes my best answer is “none of your business”. Its none of Google’s business what my hobbies are. The fact that there’s no “harm” in it is irrelevant. I want to be left alone, I should be able to without an advanced knowledge of cyber security.

When other people are at your house, why do you close the door to the bathroom when you are pooping?

“You can’t see anyone watching you” Why not just close your eyes, you won’t see your house guests watching you poop.

How confident are you that this stolen private data won’t become a tool against you at some point ? I’m not talking about hackers and impersonators (which are huge problems on their own), but anything you do could be used against you in a fascist regime.

If the records of Jewish people didn’t exist prior to WW2, the Jew extermination wouldn’t have been so easy. To consider that what you do or who you are won’t be something you or your descendants would be oppressed for in the future is a very dangerous bet.

By protecting my privacy I’m not taking any chances, and it’s actually making my life better through not being targeted by ads. Why would I do things differently?

“Can’t you just ignore the ads?” No. No you can’t. Ads aren’t tucked away in the corner of a page, waiting for your focus. They are invasive and built solely to attract attention; even compete for it. So no, you can’t ignore them anymore than you can ignore a 3y old wailing 3 ft from your ear.

Information is power. And someone will exploit it. That’s human nature. Create an innocuous database of how high people can jump and that data will be exploited. Somehow. Someone will use it for their own gains. Does that fundamentally hurt you? Maybe. Maybe not. But there is always a risk of having information put to nefarious use.

Best to just never get there as a society.

Here in the States your data can not only be used to trace where you live, and who your loved ones are, but also how to assure you will be convicted of an imprisonable offense, given the average American commits three felonies a day (mostly violations of the CFAA. If you’re not a pro-authority fascist, espionage and conspiracy can often be tossed in to extend your sentence.)

For most of us American shlubs, it’s not a big deal. If you’re a ten year old girl and make your own Facebook page (that’s a felony) no one is going to care much…

…unless you have significant liquidatable assets known to law enforcement.

…unless you cross the police on an unlucky day and one of them holds a grudge.

…unless you have enemies in high places, say, a state senator.

…or unless an official wants your real property / intellectual property / spouse and you’re in the way.

Then, yeah, it’s a matter of finding something that will convince a judge or jury that you need to be locked away. And if you are as privacy-conscious as a typical US citizen, they will find something. Maybe something even worth sending a SWAT team to serve your warrant over.

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Feel like this is just a bait post but if theres a chance it isnt, mostly for me its the principle of things. I think its my god given right to be in control of what my name or my identity is tied to and I feel that should be the norm. It was never just about the ads, its about the information thats being collected and if I can control it

If your data is available to the public, people can also learn your behaviour, likes and dislikes. From that information

1. Authorities can coerce you to do something you do not want to do (like make a false claim) because if you don’t they can use your dislikes and deny your likes to make you suffer until you relent
2. Advertisers can push advertisements of things you like and make you spend a lot more
3. Thieves will know when is the most likely time that you and your family be at home and break in during those times

Imagine an insurance company using data about you that it purchased from FB or Twitter to give you different insurance rates.

Or your social posts or posts tagged of you affecting your credit score or job application or even your rent application.

There are so many scenarios where having your privacy respected would protect you from unnecessary and unfair judgement.

I am not a product for these corporations to sell.

I just came across this link on social cooling from another post a few days ago. The amount of information that can be gathered on you is frightening. I just want to be able to control my own data rather than it being taken from me.

Edit: This was also a super interesting read on what privacy actually is as a concept as well as analyzing the social balance of privacy and security.

With the data they could literally impersonate you, this data gets sold to shady assholes, the data is regularly leaked, most isn’t public data but shit like your location, phone number or sometimes even credit card info.

Also, why should i allow anyone to know about me, im a literal ghost online, you can’t find me, and thats good.