Serious Discussion Privacy: "I have nothing to hide?" Argument (What's your say?)

General Privacy Discussions
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They're wrong, as everyone has something they try to hide (even if that something is completely mundane), but ultimately it's up to each person to decide what they want to keep hidden and what they're okay with having shared more broadly.
 
I personally, am the most boring and non-social person around (as in Social Media usage). The fact that I possibly, but quite literally have nothing to hide besides my Social Security Number, bank info, national ID info etc.. The usual basically, doesn't mean it's anyone else's business what I do, watch or like.

If person A is being addicted to watching porn on his phone while being in the train, let him. None of my business.
 
Information like addresses, birthdates, etc., can be used to hack accounts, so everyone has something to hide.

About the last point concerning open source, etc., one ultimately relies on volunteers to maintain software as new hardware and features become available, so in the end one has to pay for that maintenance.
 
Spawn said:
Read Full Story: How do you counter the "I have nothing to hide?" argument? • /r/privacy

From Reddit: "If you think privacy is unimportant for you because you have nothing to hide, you might as well say free speech is unimportant for you because you have nothing useful to say."
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I like to draw different life parallels with some statements, so that someone can understand it better.

Like, If I like to keep my house door open during the day, that doesn't mean that it's free for everyone to come in.
 
I always hear the "I have nothing to hide" statement, and truthfully I shake my head when hearing people say this. Everybody has something to hide in their life. They don't want to admit it to themselves. In the internet/computer sense, everything is public for the whole world to see. When I say this: I mean it, EVERYONE. Imagine you had posted photos of yourself/friends/family on Facebook, even if you change the privacy settings of who can see it. There is no guarantee that Facebook employees, government, or hackers can look into the database and see your photos. Most likely, most internet users won't think about this, and if they do, they may change their minds about posting things online. Billions of people fight for their rights to have freedom/liberty in this country or any country in which they live, well:

"The freedom of the county can only be measured by its respect for the rights of its citizens, and it's my conviction that these rights are in fact limitations of state power that define exactly where and when a government may not infringe into the domain of personal or individual freedoms that during the American Revolution was called "liberty" and during the Internet Revolution is called "privacy." -Edward Snowden
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at least in eu there is bare minimum of user data laws, but in terms of efficacy the laws in eu does not even come close to effectively providing privacy
looks like usa is way worse, and of course china forget it

the economic incentive around the world is that privacy is not profitable; the free-flow of data is profitable
 
When people say they have nothing to hide, I just shake my head and move on. I don't stop to argue because I don't have the time or energy to convince someone who already has a set opinion and misconception about something so important.
 
We wear clothes because we have lots of things to hide.
Thinking that you have nothing to hide shows that you may have some kind of psychological issue, or you are just plain stupid, disconnected from reality.
 
spaceoctopus said:
We wear clothes because we have lots of things to hide.
Thinking that you have nothing to hide shows that you may have some kind of psychological issue, or you are just plain stupid, disconnected from reality.
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Diconnected from reality. This is golden :ROFLMAO:
 
The premise behind the privacy of "I have nothing to hide", is deeply flawed and logically fallacious. Why? Because privacy is about protecting one's info, not hiding one's info. How do we all know this? Well, would you leave the open when you are on the toilet? No, you wouldn't, which is why this analogy is a prime example of protecting private info and not hiding private info. Next aspect: privacy is a right that everyone should have by default. The basis of this point would be that no one needs to prove the requirement of ANY fundamental right, this includes privacy.

Now, with this saying being logically fallacious it comes under the reiteration effect and tautology. The former is when you're exposed to the same false information over & over again, the conclusion must be that it's true, with the latter being an unnecessary repetition of an idea in different words; to repeat the same thing in different words. < (see what happened there, that was an example without realising right?)

The essence of the statement and the premise it holds are truly false. There's an expectation of privacy and a right to protect that expectation. It's not about hiding.

I hope this was a great read for you and please reiterate this to others who regurgitate the same argument to you or elsewhere.

~LDogg
 
Orchid said:
There is no guarantee that Facebook employees, government, or hackers can look into the database and see your photos.
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below is not an endorsement of the status quo, just pointing out reality

even if there are laws that prohibit them from looking at your photos, there is nothing that can really stop them
governments and societies are not going to put it administrators into jail for looking at your data, let alone create sweeping laws that would make looking at your data illegal

the prevailing worldview is that your data does not belong to you, you have no ownership of it
in many countries, leaders believe all data belongs to the state
there are merely bare-minimum (entirely ineffective) laws and policies that attempt to prevent personal data abuse

the fight for "privacy" with regard to the transition to digital storage, access and flow was lost in the 1970s, everybody was too busy living their lives, nobody cared even if they knew about it - which is likely that 99.999% of people did not even know it was happening
same during the 1980-2020s

lawmakers, from most any country, have little interest in creating strong privacy laws
in the eu, the home country lawmakers scoff at what the policy makers do in brussels

talking about privacy on forums, hactivism and violence against the state will not change the laws or the system
now, more than ever, there will be no changes to privacy given that two generations - millennials and gen z - fully embrace the notion that they have no privacy and they live their lives in the digital space

browser extensions, vpn through tor, fake online identities, etc - these assist with online anonymity, which is not the same as privacy
the above do next to nothing to prevent data collection or the "use of, manipulation of, or abuse of" data
 

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