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”?

  • Melllvar
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    1 year ago

    Cite historical examples of seemingly innocuous and public information falling into the wrong hands.

    e.g. The Nazis used demographic records (marriages, births, christenings, etc.) in conquered lands to ID Jews and other “undesirables”.

    • cynetri (he/any)
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      151 year ago

      And (if they’re American) when they go “well, MY government wouldn’t do that!” counter with how Meta has already, numerous times, gotten people arrested for talking about getting abortions on Facebook

      • Melllvar
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        111 year ago

        The US government used Census Bureau information to identify Japanese-Americans.

      • Melllvar
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        81 year ago

        I don’t think so. Examples of it happening demonstrate that it can happen. OTHO, examples of it not happening does not demonstrate that it cannot happen.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          Just because it has a chance to happen doesn’t mean it’s an inevitability.

          Feels like an example of confirmation bias.

          I’m not even saying I agree. I think privacy is important. I’m just playing devil’s advocate for the OPs question.

          • Melllvar
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            31 year ago

            It doesn’t have to be inevitable in order to serve as an example of what can happen when even seemingly innocuous information falls into the wrong hands. It’s happened before, and the consequences were horrifying. It will happen again, particularly if people refuse to learn from the examples of history.

            Information is knowledge. Knowledge is power. And power in the wrong hands is dangerous.

            • @[email protected]
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              01 year ago

              That feels like a scapegoat argument. That reduces down to “bad things happen when bad people do bad things.”

              You can argue against anything when you say that.

              "Dentists should be outlawed because some dentists have abused their clients " Isn’t a fair argument either.

              • Melllvar
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                21 year ago

                That is not a fair or accurate characterization of what I have been saying.

                  • Melllvar
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                    11 year ago

                    That historic examples such as the Nazis, the Japanese-American internment, and the Rwanda genocide should guide us when deciding what sorts of large-scale demographic data harvesting we as a society want to allow in the first place. That the “right to privacy” in this case is not about personal privacy but of collective privacy.

                    Which is why even people who “have nothing to hide” should care about privacy rights.

              • @[email protected]
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                21 year ago

                You have to put the risks into context with upsides. Dentists serve a verifiable and vast positive. Can you equate that to sharing personal information?

                IMO at least not generally, as a generic statement.