vivia

@vivia@sh.itjust.works

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Data privacy: how to counter the "I have nothing to hide" argument?⁩ ⁨⁨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.