The most common argument used in defense of mass surveillance is ‘If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear’. Try saying that to women in the US states where abortion has suddenly become illegal. Say it to investigative journalists in authoritarian countries. Saying ‘I have nothing to hide’ means you stop caring about anyone fighting for their freedom. And one day, you might be one of them.

The most common argument used in defense of mass surveillance is ‘If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear’. Try saying that to women in the US states where abortion has suddenly become illegal. Say it to investigative journalists in authoritarian countries. Saying ‘I have nothing to hide’ means you stop caring about anyone fighting for their freedom. And one day, you might be one of them.

  • onlooker
    50·
    5 months ago

    I tried arguing against this, but it’s no use. I tried pointing out how something can be branded illegal retroactively, like 20 years down the line, I tried the “give me your credit card info” approach, nothing took. 90% of the time the counter-argument is usually something to the effect of “big companies know everything about me anyway”, which is just guessing on their part.

    I’m just going to take care of my own privacy, because I’m clearly in the minority (present company excluded, of course). Almost everyone I know disregards online privacy completely, so I’m done trying to get a dialogue going with these people; it’s every man for himself. The only way online privacy will become a hot topic among laymen is when something nasty happens and at that point, it will have been too late.

    • Subverb@lemmy.world
      23·
      5 months ago

      As Doctorow points out, ‘Saying security and privacy don’t matter because you have nothing to hide is like saying freedom of speech doesn’t mater because you have nothing to say.’

      It’s a very short-sighted view. Those rights will be taken from you if you don’t protect them.

        • Gigasser@lemmy.world
          7·
          5 months ago

          They may know everything about you right now. But they don’t know about your future self, how you can change, how you may be an entirely different person in as little as a year. Data is useful, but it is more useful the more updated and recent it is.

        • Subverb@lemmy.world
          1·
          5 months ago

          Well I think it does, because they don’t know literally everything about us yet. But they will one day if we don’t fight back.

          • Landslide7648@discuss.tchncs.de
            5·
            5 months ago

            You’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter what you or I believe, if a person has accepted that a big corporation knows everything about them and use this as a reason not to take action or prevent them from knowing more, then the Doctorow quote doesn’t apply.

    • umami_wasabi
      151·
      5 months ago

      Just tell them unlock their phone so you can take a look of his browser history. Works quite a few time for me.

      • onlooker
        8·
        5 months ago

        At one time I did, and to my surprise, my friend did just that! Unlocked their phone and handed it to me without a word. Welp.

        • nomous@lemmy.world
          3·
          5 months ago

          So you logged into all their social media and changed their passwords and recovery emails right? I don’t just want access now, I want it in perpetuity.

          • onlooker
            41·
            5 months ago

            Nah, that would just make me a dick.

            • Citizen
              1·
              5 months ago

              If you ask a fulfilled woman she may tell you that she likes a hard dick that fucks her well.

              There are plenty of useless dicks hanging around…

        • Citizen
          1·
          5 months ago

          Yes, family, friends trust more an outsider rather than a family member with decades of real proven knowledge in the IT/Tech field.

          The reason being that AUTHORITIES have imense power of manipulation at hand rather than a single opinion of a family member…

    • oatscoop@midwest.socialEnglish
      10·
      5 months ago

      “I don’t have anything to hide because I think I’ve done something wrong: I have something to hide because I question your judgement and motives.”

      They’re fine giving you their info because they trust you. The problem is when the person seeking that information is untrustworthy – and some shithead(s) making their way into a company or government isn’t just possible, it’s likely.

      Tell them to give all their sensitive personal information to someone that hates them. Credit card numbers, political beliefs, nudes, sexual preferences/fetishes, etc.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      9·
      5 months ago

      my personal response is ALWAYS “would you be fine living with a state mandated police officer, FBI agent, CIA agent, whatever, in your house 24/7 making sure you never did anything wrong?”

      the answer is no, because obviously it’s no.

    • Citizen
      12·
      5 months ago

      Thank you very much for speaking my mind!

      I would also add that the “Plandemic” WAS that nasty thing that started other nasty things happening AND still few acknowledge what you are very well talking about.

      IT is not only about being able to exercise the freedom of speech, privacy or living and loving, IT IS about HUMANS and HUMANITY and those that are against it…

      REAL EYES, REALISE, REAL LIES! ☝️