Fundamental questions arise on whether we truly require privacy. One might question the necessity of privacy, thinking, “Why would someone like me need to hide something? Am I a criminal or a celebrity?”. However, there are genuine reasons why anyone should be entitled to confidentiality, regardless of their status. Privacy is a fundamental right and a matter of personal liberty. As privacy activists assert, it’s about “liberty versus control”. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy.
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Introduction:
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
We are living in the age of Information. Where DATA is the new oil. Every corporation and Big Tech companies are preying for our data without our consent. The world’s most valuable brands were of course, everyone knows it, were Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, all companies notorious for their data collection and targeted-advertising. All these were Tech companies, Who had become a Multi billion dollar by simply selling our data to infinite advertisers.
For example, Google doesn’t respect your privacy - every interaction with Google services is recorded, logged, and used to tailor ads for you, saved for future usage, sold to their other companies, or even sold to government agencies. Almost 90% of Google’s revenue is derived from advertising.
Many people are familiar with targeted advertising, but they don’t pay much attention to it. They think it’s good to see ads that are relevant to them. However, they don’t realize the negative impact of the methods companies use to collect data and how it can harm people.
Well, it may sound strange, but all of these statements are true. These giants in the data industry are harvesting our data and building profiles on us that go beyond our imagination. They are tracking our every move and activity, and using it to build a detailed picture of who we are, what we do, and what we like. This information is then sold to companies for various purposes such as targeted advertising, market research, and more.
Furthermore, the giants in the data industry are using our data against us and exploiting it. To give an idea of the extent of the abuses, financial services are issuing loans based on an individual’s social network as PageRank of people, the contents of a person’s smartphone, including who and when you call and receive messages, what apps are on the device, location data, and more. Cambridge Analytica, which allegedly used millions of Facebook users’ data to build psychological profiles, is just one example of how data can be misused. This is not the only example of how our data is being misused, there are many other examples out there.
Why Care About Privacy:
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In depth article about advertiser tracking at The Atlantic and when all this data is combined, it can be used for building very complete profiles on individuals.
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Tracking services were watching the entirety of your behavior on the Web. Seems funny?. You can check out this awesome tool to understand it.
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Privacy protects fundamental rights: Privacy is not just about hiding something illegal or unethical, but also protects fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and thought, and the right to personal autonomy.
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Information can be misinterpreted or used against you: Personal information can be misinterpreted, taken out of context, or used to make false assumptions about someone.
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Cambridge Analytica scandal: The Cambridge Analytica scandal involved the unauthorized harvesting of Facebook users’ data for political advertising purposes, showing how personal information can be misused.
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Facebook privacy controversies: Facebook has been embroiled in several privacy controversies in recent years, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the revelation that Facebook had allowed third-party apps to collect users’ personal information without their knowledge or consent. Additionally, Facebook does’t give damn about your mental health.
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Mass surveillance programs: Government mass surveillance programs, such as the US National Security Agency’s PRISM program, have raised concerns about privacy violations and the potential for abuse of power. No matter where you are, the NSA can monitor you, and your country’s intelligence agency may also have surveillance programs.
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The Pentagon’s $59 billion black budget is allocated to the CIA, NSA, and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which receive more than 68% of the budget.
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Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, “If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged.” Watch someone long enough, and you’ll find something to arrest—or just blackmail—with. Scary, but it’s indeed true. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused. Check this out.
You’re still wondering why I need privacy, right? Here’s an example:
Surveillance capitalism:
Personal information is increasingly used to enforce standards of behavior. Information processing is developing, therefore, into an essential element of long-term strategies of manipulation intended to mold and adjust individual conduct.
—Shoshana Zuboff
Surveillance capitalism is a new economic logic that has spread beyond the tech companies and into various sectors, such as insurance, automobiles, health, education, finance, and “smart” and “personalized” products. This new logic exploits human behavior for profit by collecting and analyzing massive amounts of data to predict and influence behavior. The consequences of this exploitation are difficult to see and foretell, as decision rights vanish, and individuals become increasingly dependent on large corporations for their privacy and security. The reality is that we are perpetually being watched online by virtually everyone, including big tech companies, advertising agencies, hackers, and the three letter agencies.
The Kaspersky experiment:
Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity and anti-virus company, conducted a social experiment where they offered clothing in exchange for personal data. However, the majority of individuals declined to share their personal information in exchange for clothing due to concerns about their privacy.
In conclusion, the Kaspersky experiment highlights the fact that people value their personal data and are hesitant to share it, especially when the process is eye to eye. But the process was invisible when doing it online. Furthermore, the normalization of social networks and online services has made it easier for big tech companies to collect and monetize our data without our explicit consent. Despite this, many individuals are unable or unwilling to pay for non-spying services, which means they end up using free services that come at the cost of their privacy. Ultimately, privacy matters because it is a fundamental human right that allows us to control our personal information and protect ourselves from potential harm.
Protect Privacy: Open-source first, proprietary software last.
Open source software is naturally more privacy-respecting than proprietary options from thirsty big tech companies. With open source, the code is transparent for anyone to inspect, audit and verify. This makes it much harder for backdoors or data collection to be added in. Open source projects also tend to favor user privacy over profit motives.
Decentralized open source apps like Signal, Matrix and Mastodon allow private communications without centralized data mining. Open source browsers like Firefox and Brave give users control over trackers and fingerprints. All this protects users from surveillance capitalism business models.
Proprietary software operated by big tech is the opposite. The code is secret, and user data is centralized into permanent record. Features are designed for maximum engagement and data collection. Privacy protections are weak or non-existent. Surveillance is the norm.
By supporting open source alternatives, we gain technology that respects autonomy and privacy. The choice is clear for those who value freedom over convenience - open source first, proprietary software last.