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Data privacy: how to counter the "I have nothing to hide" argument? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I know data privacy is important and I know that big corporations like Meta became powerful enough to even manipulate elections using our data.

But, when I talk to people in general, most seem to not worry because they "have nothing to hide", and most are only worried about their passwords, banking apps and not much else.

So, why should people worry about data privacy even if they have "nothing to hide"?

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[-] vivia 9 points 1 year ago

Well, maybe you are:

Planning a surprise party
Leaving a job
Trying to escape an abusive relationship
Famous
Writing a detective novel
A writer without a publisher
Searching about an embarrassing medical condition
Having a crush in someone
In the closet
A teenager with controlling parents
Having a hobby that's considered embarrassing or childish
Having a psycho stalker
Buying a present from Santa
A reporter who doesn't want to reveal their sources
Buying a toilet and you don't want toilet recommendations for the rest of your life
Lending your computer to someone, and you don't want your recommended videos to change
Under an NDA

... Or maybe you're talking with someone who's in one of those categories.

We have to normalise privacy in order to keep these people safe. For instance, it's a stupid example but it works, if I always use private browser windows, my husband won't suspect anything when I'm looking for a gift for him.

That's only the tip of the iceberg and it's not even touching some bigger problems:

You can be profiled based on your likes, social media posts, purchase history, etc, and maybe used for election results manipulation, or who knows what else. That's not a conspiracy theory, it has happened, see for instance Cambridge Analytica.
Maybe the political situation will change in the future. Oops, now your data is suddenly in the hands of a malicious dictator.
If you keep a backdoor open to let the "good and trusted" actors in, there's no way to not let malicious actors in as well.

this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023

491 points (99.0% liked)

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