'They know everything anyway'
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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Privacy
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Hardest one to argue with
Linux Torvalds recently said he doesn't try to worryabout privacy just tries to be as boring as possible (on ltt) and I thought that's pretty harmful advice.
I try to be spicy and waste surveillance money. I actually got an email from NZ Security Intelligence Service one time but they emailed me from a mail.com domain. They said they were writing to me "human to human" and asked me if I was "planning anything rash". This was in response to some edgy posts that I made online. I deliberately act mental to tie up government resources lol. I make a huge trail and when they get a surveillance warrant on me I start going to Google or bing and I ask questions like "was 9/11 an inside job" so that Security intelligence Service sees it. I also blame the government for supporting the wholesale slaughter of people in Afghanistan to make them feel guilty.
"Ultimately, 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
Something I want to try replying to the nothing to hide crowd:
Why do you close the door to your home then? What criminal activity are you hiding?
Ask them to hand over their unlocked phone so you can read their messaged.
Ask them for some nudes!
Go one step further and ask why they're wearing clothes. What are they hiding in their pants they're so ashamed of?
Bathroom door too; wanna show it all off! /s
I like to remind them that "against the law" can look extremely different depending on the administration at the time.
Every normal person will use gmail
I mean... She's not wrong. Individuals privacy minded enough to avoid even basic Google services like Gmail are most definitely NOT the norm. Like, you're not wrong for avoiding it, but don't pretend like it's some common thing that everyone does. You are VERY MUCH in the minority.
It's basically like saying "every normal person will use Windows or Mac". Wrong or right, that IS the norm.
Don't try self hosting. Its too difficult and insecure. Blah blah.
To be fair, self-hosting is more difficult and less secure.
The thing is though, many like to put in an effort and no one cares to hack your server, unlike something like Google.
Lol.
It's about 1000x easier to configure your server on your own than trying to work through some VPS frontend.
It is more difficult, but it is not inherently less secure if you put in the time and effort to learn what's what and how to properly secure it.
Fair, but it takes much more than the average home selfhoster's level of competence.
Agreed. It's a commitment for sure, and most people are not willing to, or just can't.
I gave up, the issue is much bigger than just privacy. Most people have no problem with having their life controlled by external circumstances and being exploited. They say that's how life is. They don't save money, but spend it all. They don't start a company, but just get hired. They don't protect their data, but give it away for free. They don't eat healthy, but prefer to enjoy their sugar and fast food. They don't work out, but just watch TV, consuming ads. Most people are unreasonable beyond help.
My advice is, just do your thing and let the results speak for themselves.
Starting a company isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Entrepreneur hustle culture is a neoliberal trap I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I never worked harder for less money, or felt surrounded by the most disingenuous people I’ve ever met than when I worked for myself. I’ll just keep collecting a paycheck and actually enjoy my life while not “on the clock”.
It's all a balance between being comfortable and getting exploited. Everybody has to find their own sweet spot.
I'm with you here. I stopped pushing people into caring, just secured my own home and family, and bring up the subject in my circle only when someone mentions that someone was 'hacked' or something along those lines.
Your not giving it away for free though. They are exchanging it for services. You might not see value in the services but I guess some people do.
Idiocracy.
Underrated movie. It's an accurate prediction of today's world. And it contains electrolytes.
“They already have my information anyway.”
“Oh, what are they gonna do with my info? Who cares that I searched for X and Y? LOL.”
Me, a software engineer working for a major cSaaS provider that partners with other companies that specialise in Mobile Real User Monitoring, Open Telemetry, Bluetooth beacons, etc.: “Eh, no idea what they do with that info. Now let me just ignore all these non-anonymized analytics, spans, traces, and metrics that these companies capture about your devices and the health of their applications and infrastructure.”
I stopped bringing these things up years ago. Can’t explain this to persons who don’t care or are not remotely close to being tech savvy. Let them be content and enjoy the things they enjoy.
Mention dynamic pricing then
No 1 answer for sure....
“They already have my information anyway.”
But how to argue against? I once said, in Europe you have the right to get all the information deleted. Guess why they established this law?
That information becomes less value the older it is. If you go dark all of a sudden tomorrow, that information will be worth a small fraction in a year. And there's the old saying: "The best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago. The second best time is now."
Then why do they keep it? The collect so much data and keep it all. Then when there is a leak it's worse cause they have so much "useless" data.
Because they're incompetent bastards?
They just call me paranoid and move on.
Mostly paraphrased, I don't remember exactly how it was worded. Also the non-quote responses were made up after the fact for this post, this wasn't a single conversation in this order:
"You'll miss out on so many events and social opportunities because you don't have any 'real' social media."
As an introvert, I don't care.
"You're selfish for putting your silly notions of 'privacy' over being in the loop with what your friends are doing. One day you'll realize that being there when your friends post about their life events is more important."
Said by someone who I never considered my friend in the first place. My actual friends have ways of reaching me other than Facebook or WhatsApp.
"Most people aren't going to bother figuring out which obsecure 'privacy oriented' service you decide to use, they're just not going to talk to you if you're not on mainstream apps. Normal people value their time more than they value privacy."
Please stop talking to me then, so I stop wasting your time.
"This isn't the 1950s anymore. You need to get with the times and embrace the information age."
I know how to program, you don't. I know how the protocols that power the internet work, you think it's a literal magic cloud. I run my own server at home with hardware I bought, you have to pay for Google Drive every month. I'm the one embracing the information age, you're just blindly using it.
"Geez, you're like an Amish person! Don't you see you've fallen into a cult? Just instead of not using electricity you don't use social media."
No I'm not. See above, I fully embrace technology. In fact, I embrace it so much I've spent most of my life figuring out how it works and only use things I understand and control, and I choose not to use certain conveniences because I know how they work. Also, I'm not an antivaxxer or against modern medicine. I also think raising horses in captivity to be your slave is cruel and barbaric. Finally, I don't believe in God and don't try to live my life according to a 2000+ year old book. Privacy isn't a cult, if anything, your blind faith in trillion dollar tech companies is more like the Amish's blind faith to their God.
One day you’ll realize that being there when your friends post about their life events is more important.
Lmao. Being there for their posts??? This is delusional and sad.
"selfish"? Wow. Reminds me of the time my brother just invented I deserve to be doxxed for uninstalling google and youtube from my phone.
I wish some people would just come up with an excuse! They (pretend to listen), nod, and then... nothing. Or sometimes just repeat their previous argument.
that advertisement becomes more relevant and they don't need to search for things they may like
🤷
A (otherwise educated and pretty smart) friend once said to me that she is okay with Google knowing everything since she expects that everybody can profit from the generated knowledge.
They give us service for free, they should use our data as they like. A friend told me
Once a guy told me this on imeetzu.
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