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.
  • alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    Religion, sexual orientation, union membership and political beliefs have all been used in the past to persecute people.

    To think that it’s not possible again is naive.

    Privacy is the most fundamental right to be free.

    Without privacy, the Chinese CCP model will be the model we all will eventually live under.

  • DannyMac@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    I love Mullvad. You don’t see them in any ads (No “this video is brought to you by Mullvad VPN”) and you can pay them any way you’d like… Including cash!

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      It’s the only VPN I’ve seen advertised irl though. I’ve seen it advertised in the metro and on buses, which struck me as odd

      • aStonedSanta@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        That’s crazy lol whereabouts are ya? Midwestern USA on my end. I don’t recall ever seeing an IRL VPN ad.

    • yannic@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      No port forwarding, though. Some old guides still list them as having that capability, so I try to mention it frequently.

        • yannic@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          5 months ago

          I don’t see why having options are turn-offs except maybe for those who provide said options.

          • DannyMac@lemm.eeEnglish
            0·
            5 months ago

            I don’t understand. I mean I see why not having port forwarding would turn someone off from going with Mullvad, but I understand Mullvad’s rationale for doing so.

  • Adderbox76@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    The way I explain it to people who say that to me is that it doesn’t even have to be something illegal or sketchy.

    Everyone…and I mean everyone has something about themselves that, were it common knowledge, would change the way your friends and family look at you. Maybe for the better. Maybe not. And if you, for whatever reason, don’t want that they be known, then so be it. That’s totally your decision, not the governments.

    If you want to let your freak flag fly proudly, go ahead. You have my full love and support. If you want to fly your freak flag privately and not have it be common knowledge. You also have my full love and support.

    It’s not about “having something to hide”. It’s about the you that you choose to present to the world. And that is a fundamental right.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      It’s also about the fact that social standards and laws change. What may be perfectly acceptable today, could cost you your job or freedom in a few years.

      Look at how many people lost their jobs, careers, and social standings because of old tweets that were resurfaced years later. That’s not even legal changes, just social propriety changes. The internet used to be the Wild West. People would go out with guns blazing, hootin ’ and a hollerin’. Then several years later we found ourselves in this socially progressive identity focused environment and shit people said in passing, likely without any thought at all, suddenly became part of their public identity.

      Now imagine that there’s a drastic change in the law. Today you’re celebrating pride month, and 5 years from now homosexuality is outlawed retroactively… Seems preposterous, but it’s really not. We need our privacy, from both the government and corporations.

  • other_cat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    I’ve got a bit of a VPN question if anyone wants to educate a newbie a little. When I tried a VPN (Mullvad actually!) it defaulted to Sweden but then accessing my banking information didn’t work. If I switch a VPN to reflect that I’m somewhere randomly in the USA, is that still sufficient protection?

    • yukijoou@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      it depends™

      what are you protecting yourself against?

      for my use case, that’d be good enough, i don’t want my school/building admins to snoop on the websites i visit, and don’t want to fear academic repercussions for torrenting and such

      though if you think your government is out to get you, then tunneling to another country is probably best!

      • other_cat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        Nothing that serious, thankfully. Just want to obfuscate my data and leave as little of an impression on the internet as I can. Good advice, thank you!

        • LWD@lemm.eeEnglish
          0·
          5 months ago

          Your bank probably wants to make sure your account isn’t being hacked. Either they think you’re using a VPN, and they believe it could be a malicious person from literally anywhere, or they think you’re in Sweden, and they have no idea how you got there.

          It’s cases like these where you might want to temporarily disable the VPN or make a special exception for your banking app, but that’s up to you.