People often tell me they don’t care about their privacy, because they have nothing to hide. But like Edward Snowden puts it, that’s like saying freedom of speech doesn’t matter because you have nothing to say.

People often tell me they don’t care about their privacy, because they have nothing to hide. But like Edward Snowden puts it, that’s like saying freedom of speech doesn’t matter because you have nothing to say.

It’s not because something doesn’t apply to you that it doesn’t matter. Think of a men supporting woman rights. If we were to follow the above analogy, that wouldn’t make sense as he is not a women. So like privacy, it apparently doesn’t apply to him. This is obviously completely ridiculous.

You probably understood by now that this way of thinking is wrong, as it relies on the false assumption that only things which apply to one’s self matter.

Privacy doesn’t matter until it suddenly does

Privacy only starts to matter when the situation is critical, when your data got exposed in a data breach for example. This is a very major issue as once your data is exposed, there is no way to “un-expose” it. It’s too late. Your data will stay on the internet. Forever.

It probably happened countless times in your life that you gave your address to a website to buy something online. What would happen if that website got hacked and your address got exposed along with your name? It already happened in the past. In some cases, where websites were linked to sensitive information (financial information for example), users received death threats.

The worst part is that you only realize privacy matters when it’s too late. Once your data is out there, there is no way to get it back.

---

Interested in privacy? Make sure to join our subreddit where you can discuss with like-minded individuals!

---

Data is power

Data is digital oil. It powers the digital economy. Website use it to generate revenues without having to charge their users a fee. Companies like ours make it our mission to protect your data from these websites. Others, like Facebook or Google, make it their business model to collect as much data as possible, and leveraging it to sell ads.

At its core, data is knowledge. Data is knowledge which unlike usual public information can be very precise, intimate, and sensitive. You wouldn’t want everyone to know what music you are listening when you feel good, or what messages you sent to your friends yesterday.

But for companies who make of data-harvesting their business model, like Facebook or Google, this is incredibly profitable. By analyzing which music you are listening to, they could very well predict what your mood is. Using that information, along with which messages you sent to your friends the other day, they could very well calculate that the chances of you buying a sweatshirt right now is above average, for example. Even if you don’t need that sweatshirt.

Finally, what happens if a government becomes authoritarian? What happens in the event, which is entirely possible, that the US becomes an authoritarian regime, for example? Scary, isn’t it?

Freedom

Above all, privacy is about freedom. When you know someone is tracking every move you make, you censor yourself. You limit your freedom on purpose. Things which you would normally do, aren’t done anymore specifically because you know you are being tracked.

Like Glen Greenwald puts it: “Mass surveillance creates a prison in the mind that is a much more subtle, though much more effective, means of fostering compliance with social norms or with social orthodoxy, and is much more effective than brute force could ever be.”

You wouldn’t want everyone to know what goes in your head. Thoughts can be especially sensitive, and shouldn’t be judged as they don’t reflect actions. However, your browsing patterns clearly mimic your way of thinking. Without privacy, you could be judged based on that, which is obviously something horrifying.

In order to have this freedom, to re-claim it, we need privacy. This is especially the case in countries where authoritarian governments are in control.

Authoritarian regimes

We rarely realize the luxury of living in democratic nations here in Western countries. However, in some major parts of the world, authoritarian regimes are still in existence. Without privacy, without tools like VPNs, Tor… it would be impossible to resist and have even just a small sense of freedom.

With countries like China implementing a nation-wide algorithmic surveillance system to track and “rate” their citizens based on how loyal they are to the country, privacy is more needed than ever.

Imagine a dystopia where every citizen is ranked based on their past behavior, online and offline. A country where your rank decreases when you buy things which the state doesn’t like, like alcohol or video games. A country where your rank increases when your finances are doing well. Well, this is not a dystopia. This is actually happening in China.

It goes even further. You could theoretically be ranked based on your entourage. Your friend is against the CCP? Fine, your ranked is lowered. This will contribute to a social isolation of citizens trying to resist against the more and more powerful Chinese government.

Conclusion

If you are here because your data got exposed, it’s never too late to start caring about your privacy.

While your data will stay on the web forever, by taking the appropriate measures now, you are making sure that it won’t happen again. It’s never too late to start caring about privacy.

---

Interested in privacy? Make sure to join our subreddit where you can discuss with like-minded individuals!

---