I'm sure many of you have had some variation of the "I don't care about my privacy because I have nothing to hide!" conversation with other people.

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@r_alb also, one of my favorite quotes on the subject, author unknown:

> I need privacy, not because my actions are questionable, but because your judgement and intentions are.

Raphael Albert

@rysiek
Great points, thank you!

Raphael Albert

@truls46
Great, thank you for sharing!
I've also used the curtain metaphor a few times, it really gets people startled.

Adam Jacobs 🇺🇦

@r_alb I would ask how happy they would be to have a dump in this washroom

Reg

@r_alb

The ability to learn about something objectively without a search engine/agent/application deciding what you want based on your prior searching habits...or worse, the interests of completely different people who happen to share a few common elements of an artificial profile.

This is related to the importance of preserving a degree of serendipity in finding new information.

ExtraFlauschig

@r_alb I mostly ask if they please could unlock their phone and hand it to me. If they really do, I start reading out messages from any installed app out loud.
Until now everyone stopped me at least at the point I started reading out loud their messages.
(Please don’t ever really read private messages of someone out loud without their consent)

Enola Knezevic

@r_alb I warn them that they're in for an unpleasant surprise. If that doesn't do it, I stop discussing privacy and any potentially sensitive subject with them.

Pam C

@r_alb Ask if they have curtains or blinds in their home, and will they remove them if they have nothing to hide. This is about the right to have control ovr your own life without everybody else wanting to be the village gossip.

Tiota Sram

@r_alb in the case of an extremely stubborn libertarian (haven't encountered such myself thankfully) I might resort to: "You know this info gets bundled and sold around. Why should I be forced to give it up for free?" This is a terrible argument that cedes a lot of ground that shouldn't be ceded, but it could work for some freaks I imagine.

I think I'm more likely to just ask "You trust the government? In 2026?!?"

nicolaottomano

@r_alb I always reply "you have nothing to hide NOW, but who knows if that nothing would be something in the future? Is your religion something to hide? After all, we (Italians) had laws to imprison, deport and kill people of a certain religion just 80 years ago."

серафими многоꙮчитїи

@r_alb time is the enemy: if you don't have privacy now, someone in the future can use it against you later. Let's say I am totally, 100% happy with the government of my country. I support some slightly controversial causes but I live in a democracy and I have a right to my opinions. In 10 years' time another government gets in and it turns out that support for legalising cannabis is support for drug barons, who are now defined as terrorists. Oops!

Orrrr I get tested for HIV as part of a visa requirement (multiple times). Obviously I trust the health service! Later on as part of a public/private partnership this information gets shared with my health insurer. They conclude that my lifestyle is riskier and hence costlier than it actually is. Oops!

It's not really about who you trust now, it's about having a reckless amount of trust in the future.

Sauerer 🐕🐕

@r_alb
If you have nothing to hide, why do you use sealed envelopes when you send letters?

Joe Vinegar

@r_alb "how about having a video camera in your bathroom active 24h/365d? no? if 24h is too much how about auto activated only when someone is in the bathroom? still too much exposure? what if it's available only to police? only good police you trust? no? or a judge? that you trust?"
if it's still "no" or there's still a lot of "it depends": how are your personal communication, mobility, purchase trail, political stance, relationships, emotional status LESS PRIVATE than your junk size and shape, or your crap?"

Tristram Brelstaff

@rysiek @r_alb The history of the 20th Century shows quite clearly that the bigger threat to human welfare is not terrorism but bad government.

dark_stang

@r_alb ask if you can see their credit cards and last year's full tax return.

sͧb̴ͫƸ̴gͬᵉ

@r_alb To freely paraphrase a swedish columnist at SvD:

”It’s not about having clean bedlinens,
it’s about not having other peoples dirty ass in my bed.”

Urzl

@r_alb "Show me your browser history, your emails and all of the texts on your phone. All of it."
"No"
"Then you *do* believe in privacy."

Kow

@r_alb neither did the immigrants in the US. Nor the Uyghurs recently in china. Nor the Jews in Germany.

Sailor Anarres

@r_alb the things that are "illegal" and need to be "hidden" are constaly changing what happens when your post calling Trump orange is now terrorism in a couple years

⠵⠻⠷⠕⠭ 🍥🍉⚪🌹

@r_alb In addition to the arguments about how it impacts the individual directly now or in the future I try to make the point that pervasive surveillance is corrosive to civil society and damages free societies in the long run which impoverishes the freedom we claim to enjoy.

Wandering Adventure Party

I'm sure many of you have had some variation of the "I don't care about my privacy because I have nothing to hide!" conversation with other people.