(Please don’t downvote just because I need some help.)
I was once a privacy nut. But it’s getting so hard nowadays, and there are so many more important problems – global warming, AI, the inevitable collapse of the current world order… how does privacy improve the world? Please help remind me.
I do approve of privacy, of course. All this protect-the-children flak is bullshit. I just can’t remember why I thought it was something worth fighting for and preaching about.
But it’s getting so hard nowadays
It’s a sliding scale; it isn’t just ‘full privacy’ or ‘no privacy’. Everyone makes compromises somewhere based on their personal preferences. Most people would agree posting their credit card number on a public forum is too far into the ‘no privacy’ band, for example.
how does privacy improve the world
It’s up to you, but I don’t like trusting my personal info with untrustworthy companies.
I fight for privacy to protect myself.
Now, what am I protecting myself from? I don’t think anyone is going to come arrest me for what I do. I don’t think any big companies are going to leak my data and embarrass me. I don’t think anyone is going to compromise my bank and drain my funds.
I am protecting myself from being influenced by advertising and targeted news.
I am protecting my thoughts and feelings, because in the end, that’s all that really matters. I don’t want to need the next toy, or jump on a bandwagon. I don’t want to see advertising and I don’t want a carefully crafted worldview pushed on me.
Do what you can and dont let perfect be the enemy of good. You’re still ahead of the rest of the crowd who don’t give a shit.
As for the USA, let me put it this way: If Trump gets elected, with the tech tools the govt has, we will see, at the very best, another Hong Kong, with anyone that disfavors the Repubs disappearing, some permanently. At the worst, we will see another Nazi Germany. He himself proposed executing people.
If you practice privacy and can teach others, your skills will be valuable to the underground resistance.
He himself proposed executing people.
Link?
When authoritarian governments have complete power they don’t really checks and balances to the system, or juries. Take Putin - Navalny for example. You would know this if you aren’t a Holocaust denier.
