Privacy Basics
I wrote this back in 2021 when WhatsApp planned on changing some of their terms, I think it’s still very relevant now so I’ve moved to my new site.
I’m constantly presented with the argument “I’ve got nothing to hide”. Or “if you’re doing something wrong you shouldn’t have privacy anyway”.
It’s an odd and frankly pretty dumb argument.
Firstly, if you have nothing to hide are you living at all? I bet every one of us could think of something off the top of our heads we'd not want people knowing, seeing or having the right to share with others. This isn’t necessarily something you’re doing that’s wrong; you just don’t want the invasion of privacy.
Secondly and more importantly, the confusion is often in the tradeoff between privacy and security. The main issue here is that we have to argue in privacy’s defence - not the other way round. Why should we have to argue “please don’t take my privacy away”, instead of “why do you want to take my privacy away”? Governments have failed time and again to demonstrate that they have a proper understanding of technologies they are trying to interfere with - yet they make the decisions first then we have to debate later. Not how proper discourse should work.
Thirdly, privacy is a basic human right. 1998 Human Rights Act. Simples.
Forth and less obviously, most data privacy issues aren’t that dramatic. The likelihood of the government looking at your nudie photos is slim. However, it is important to remember: the collection of individual’s information, and potential invasion of privacy, changes the relationship you have with that institution. And if that institution then decides to implement new laws and policies that mean the things you “don’t have to hide” become things you have to hide; well then we’re all fucked.
Lastly, anyone who works with data knows that a single data point by itself is pretty damn useless. It’s inference of context through multiple data points combined that we gleam meaning and make decisions. So, if you think that WhatsApp (or many other platforms) looking at your location data is fine, it probably is. But then combine that location data with where the message is received and what media it was etc, and pictures can be painted that are more easily actionable from that company.
Avoiding privacy issues with private companies is simple, supposedly. Don’t like what WhatsApp is doing? Use Signal.
But we should be aware the impact these technologies can have on our lives and the decisions our leaders make - something 2020 has shown us we should absolutely 100% all give a shit about.
Am I going to stop using WhatsApp? No, probably not as I have many business uses for it. But I’d rather use iMessage, Signal or any other platform that doesn’t take those details. Why not?