Fediverse

I think where privacy minded people fail to understand is that for most people we are not committing crimes or shady shit online therefore why care?

Yeah, I hate that argument (the typical "If you don't have anything to hide, why should I worry"). Because you might not have anything to hide (debatable), but you know who does? Journalists, political activists, people in witness protection, people who suffered from domestic violence or human trafficking and need to hide, etc....

Don't collectively erode people's right to privacy, because there are people whose lives depend on it; and who knows, you might need it some day.

"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." ― Edward Snowden

I think where privacy minded people fail to understand is that for most people we are not committing crimes or shady shit online therefore why care? A lot of us understand that if you type anything in a computer it is assumed to be on the public record either easily found or through a few hoops to get it.

The issue isn't that people are trying to hide their crimes or their shady shit, it's that the information about ourselves that we did not post online/are only letting a select few know are being revealed to strangers without our consent. It's about the choice of who we are willing to reveal what to. Are you willing to let strangers know every aspect of your daily life? What you eat, when you sleep, when you poop, where you go, what you like to do etc. Because that's what companies want with data collection, to know every aspect of you, the good the bad the ugly, so that they can market your data to advertisers and constantly push their products to you. Taken to the futuristic extreme, they can and will push toilet paper products to you while you are on the toilet, or advertise gym services while you are eating dessert, or maybe even push sex products while you are in bed with your partner. It's this sort of future that many people are worried about and want to prevent from happening. (And this isn't even talking about what governments can do with this sort of data collection.)

People want the choice of being able to reveal select information to select people. That's what privacy is.

A lot of us understand that if you type anything in a computer it is assumed to be on the public record either easily found or through a few hoops to get it.

The problem is that nowadays your medical documentation, banking and other sensitive data is all transferred through a computer. And it should be protected and private.

This position is full of generalisations and false dichotomies. Care / don't care, private / not private.

A lot of us understand that if you type anything in a computer it is assumed to be on the public record either easily found or through a few hoops to get it.

This is pure hyperbole. Sure a lot of idiots don't realise that the platforms they're using are not private, but it's usually only admins that can access their stuff - it's not "on the public record".