To be clear, I don’t subscribe to the idea of “Nothing to Hide.” It’s a bullshit argument. The reason why I’m asking this is because I want to be able to explain why it’s bullshit. I don’t like the fact that many people, including ones in my family, are willing giving up their right to privacy simply because they’ve become accustomed to convenience that modern technology has afforded them. I, myself, have been guilty of these but I’m actively taking steps to take back my privacy and potentially help others as well.
Bonus question: Many people will retort with things “Do you want criminals walking our streets?” or bring up an anecdote about how Flock, Ring or any other surveillance companies’ cameras helped solve a crime or found a missing person. Flock themselves have a blog post series called #SolvedStories where they list so-called “success stories” about their cameras solving a case. Of course, I don’t want criminals walking our streets and, sure, those stories might pull my heartstrings but what’s the bigger picture?
Saying you don’t need privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don’t need freedom of speech because you have nothing to say
Edward Snowden
This article explains it better than I can.
But, in my own words. The “nothing to hide” argument assumes that laws are always:
- made for you, never against you.
- enforced fairly, rationally, sanely.
- never conflict with the right thing to do.
- all that matters, so there’s no such thing as chilling effect against lawful actions.
- immutable. (thanks vrek!)
None of those things is even remotely true.
So short answer: “You don’t have anything to hide yet.”
Also 5. Laws never change.
You know what, this is such a good point I’ll add to the list.
Everybody has something to hide. You don’t publish all your mail, you have a door to your bathroom, or even doors in general. You have blinds on your windows. People need privacy, an area that can be hidden without reprimand and that each individual controls. If you say you have nothing to hide, you are wrong. If you give up your right to privacy, you leave yourself open to blackmail, wrongful accusations, random searches, in short a terrible life. It’d be like living in prison every day for the rest of your life.
And it’s up to each person to decide what they want private, for any reason they like.
I’ve never been concerned about people who close their blinds, but I’m very concerned about people who feel they have a right to peek through them.
Even if everything you do is completely innocent and wholesome, it can be used against you. It will be used against you.
People with “nothing to hide” typically still have blinds on their windows and locks on their doors, so you know that statement isn’t true.
Maybe you think you have nothing to hide now, but what if you need to take sensitive photos to send to you or your kid’s doctor? There’s been at least one case where Google decided to delete a father’s entire account for that.
For starters, I have plenty to hide. No honest person uses that fallacious argument.
The fallacy of the argument is that it presumes anything I have to hide must be illegal. But of course that’s not true.
It’s not whether you have anything to hide or not. It’s whether those going through your stuff/data can anything of it that they will then claim you were hiding.
Benign things can always be used against you in a court of law by authoritarians. The whole protest = terrorism and donating to liberal causes = funding terrorists for example. Maybe you donated clothing to an organization that aids refugees before. Now you’re liable to get warrants for financing immigration crimes and they can start digging for more and more “evidence” until you either end up bankrupt from legal fees or you crack under the pressure. Everyday people with literally nothing to hide have no recourse once the regime sets eyes on you, not to mention shit like following you everywhere and reporting your activities as evidence of flight risk so you can’t bond out.
This is the big one. Not about pants or bathrooms or passwords. It’s about whether you want the government or corporations to know personal details that can later be used against you. Are you religious? Jewish? What’s your ethnicity? National origin? Could any of those be used to target you? Maybe you have been seeing a therapist or counselor, what’s that about? Are you depressed, suicidal? Did you cheat on your wife and now you’re in couples therapy? Do you have a drug, gambling, or alcohol problem, or other addiction? Maybe you were just a dumb kid and did something stupid like petty shoplifting?
Everyone has something to hide, even if it’s not a bad thing. All of those things could be used to target you. Maybe to eliminate you from consideration for a job. Maybe someone searches for your name before a date. Maybe ICE is looking for anyone they can deport to meet their quota.
It’s irrelevant to whether other people need privacy. Saying, “I don’t care about privacy because I have nothing to hide” is like saying, I don’t have cancer so why should I support the search for a cure?
I know your question isn’t necessarily US centric, but I’m going to write what I know.
The legal system in the USA is rarely fair or just to the average person. A completely innocent person can be detained and severely punished in a variety of ways from detention, life altering legal fees, coerced into pleading guilty, trial by media / public humiliation, and the police can literally, legally steal your property and money.
Worse, there are so many laws on the books and so many gotchas that essentially everyone in the USA (above a certain age) is breaking / has broken a law. Some things are obvious (driving even 1 MPH over the speed limit is breaking a law), but there are a myriad random things that are technically illegal but the average person doesn’t know of, the laws are inconsistent, and they vary from town to town, county to county, state to state, etc.
Privacy helps shield people from some of the negative impacts of these regrettable features of our legal system. For me it really does boil down to the fact that while I myself may not have anything to hide, a right to privacy still protects me from unwarranted persecution / prosecution.
I’m old enough to recall a time when people like me (oh no the gays) were routinely outed and shamed by police even when they’d broken no laws. They’d publish “arrest reports” in the local papers making sure to state that the innocent person who had no charges filed against them was detained leaving the “Brass Bull Bar” (aka the well-known gay bar) or that the suspect was noted to be unclothed in bed with another man when arrested in his home. Basically people who had not actually broken a law, but still punished because at the time these revelations were enough to have people ostracized by family and community, but also it put their lives and health in danger.
The “nothing to hide” argument is disingenuous because it is based on the perspective of each person.
The person saying it will believe they have done everything right.
An outsider can only judge based on their own understanding and beliefs.
If the outsider person judging or convicting only cares about getting the W conviction, they will go to whatever lengths they feel are needed to get the W. This is how the US justice system works. If you allow search, they don’t need to find evidence of the original crime, just any crime. There are also some who manufacture crime or stage it to raise this W rate.
Unless you really trust all parties in to be fair in judgement, the statement itself doesn’t hold ground since it usually will end with conflict or burden of proof.
If I said I have nothing to hide in a game where there are no consequences in losing the game, people aren’t going to go at great lengths to prove me wrong because I might not be happy with them which is a lasting consequence compared to a single loss. If it comes with a paycheck, there’s people who would do literally anything.
“i have nothing to hide”
“ok. give me your SS#, DOB, and your mother’s maiden name”
“haywaaaaiiiittaminute”
Google now has the ability to see which lawmakers are talking to which lobbyists at what time thru geolocation. They can scan the contents of their inboxes and know what they are searching for. They can identify family members, associates, and do the same thing with them. They can know the username of any account that is ever signed up to any service using that Gmail address.
Imagine being a lawmaker and trying to crack down on Google when they know who you’re talking to, where you are going, whay your constituents are saying to you, and what leverage points to squeeze. Even if you’re squeaky clean, is your family, neighbor, etc?
They might not be doing it now. But they definitely could at any point.
Giving up your freedom is like choosing to live in the 1984 novel/movie.
It’s not about “hiding” anything. It’s about the freedom to not be exploited. It’s about the autonomy of one’s personhood.
I am a criminal walking the streets: weed. Until it’s legal yeah I want criminals of certain types walking the street lol
