When people say this they're completely missing the point. First, when someone says "I have nothing to hide", they are assuming that whoever is watching or monitoring or surveiling them share the same values they do. You decide to do something and you don't care who knows it because you think "there's nothing wrong with this". What if who is watching you decides "there is something wrong with that? The second point is that, even if you have just the slightest inkling that someone might know what you're thinking or doing, you think and act differently. It's psychology.

"Let me take a quick look through your browser history to confirm that you in fact have nothing to hide."

"Unlock your phone and hand it to me"

"Yeah, that's what I thought"

do you shit with the door open , let me. take a few pics of you doing that

hand over your phone and let me take a look.

Idk you're basically asking people to think in a way that they really don't process info. Its akin to being like "in order to understand my point you have to complete this trigonometry problem" and they're just gonna go, "nah" and then revert to their heuristic.

They might like Facebook, or really rely on google. So all you can do is talk a little bit about alternatives. Since all these companies spy and steal data, they are speaking from a place of like resignation. Asking to stop using any service is kind of a maximum demand, not in essence (I actually don't believe in min/max political demands) but in affect. Its like, to stop using google would be a major change, require some intimidating technical expertise (are you gonna offer IT support for their Grapheme phone/Linux Mint computer?) and then all the other services are just gonna steal their data anyways. Leaving Facebook is scary and hard, its like an addiction. And like all addictions you can fully know that something is wrong, and still be afraid or fail to quit it. There has to be a breaking point and you're not gonna be able to offer that in one conversation.

The better strategy is to try and find common ground on problems that people are concerned about, like data centers, and then offer actions or political leadership. If we really care about an issue, then the best method I have found is to schedule one on ones and try and draw people into work. If you want to teach then you need a theory of pedagogy and the idea that good ideas can replace bad ideas is fundamentally broken.

Ask them for their social security number and credit card with ccv code.

Lock eyes and unzip their pants.

I tell them privacy is a human right, that I don't need to come up with justifications for why I don't want to be exploited, and that you're only conditioned not to care.

If they don't see my point then I say OK then.

Shift the conversation towards autonomy, dignity and self-respect.

The user's interaction with the-billion-dollar-company's software is unpaid labour, which is why they profit and the user suffers. They suffer from having their data stolen; they suffer the expenses fostered on to them; they pay for the computers that spy on them; they pay for the electricity to run the spyware; they pay for the data-subscriptions that facilitate the theft of their data. They cover all the expenses of a billion-dollar-company and are deprived of any profit. They do not even garner a wage.

If one wishes to move towards the point of "my data is worthless" point out the company's profits or even its speculative valuations. Clearly it's not worthless. The products that are derived from their exploitation lead to even greater profits for those companies. "A.I." is a looting of the collective commons. A privatization of humanity's interaction with computers.

Do they like being exploited? Do they like their batteries draining faster, because their mobile-computer is running software to spy on them? Do they like running out of data because their mobile-computer is forcefully downloading ads and spyware-updates? Do they like ads? Do they like being interrupted by the highest bidder? Do they like annoying notifications that are just ads? Do they like this shitty experience? Are they complete docile slaves? They are less than wage-slaves for they do not even garner a wage! Have some self-respect and dignity!

"Can I come watch next time you and your partner have sexy times?"

do you shot with the door open?

You have nothing to hide until what was once acceptable rapidly changes.

The big perspective shift for me, is not that I feel obliged to privacy in public. It's when the institution observing is so big and centralised that it becomes a power issue. I don't care if you (the people) see all that I do in public, I have nothing to hide. I do care when your agenda is to see everything and gain power from it.

• me some time ago

"If you have nothing to hide, you must be one boring-ass, useless mutherfucker."

Let me your phone unblocked and tell me your banking app password then

"I have nothing to share" It's healthy to want privacy and to say I don't want to share.

I saw someone on YouTube respond with "give me your phone and let me go into the other room for an hour"

They don't think they have anything to hide because they think of it as "evil activity"

Reframe it, like sure you are not doing anything bad but these companies don't care about criminal or evil behaviour. For them you are like livestock you only serve one purpose: making them money, there are no morals involved. They would sell your data to absolutely anyone for any reason! YOU can't think of anything bad they could do with your data because YOU are not evil but THEY absolutely are. If an evil person wants your data you shouldn't give it to them because they WILL find a way to use it against us, its a law of nature just like gravity.

My go to was typically pointing to MLK and COINTELPRO.

Not caring about privacy because you have nothing to hide is the same thing like opposing freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.

"So why do you wear clothes or don't share your credit card details online?"

“Okay, unlock your phone and hand it over so I can go through it.”

Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. - Edward Snowden

"Okay, whip it out" and then start unzipping your fly.

…for now.

What happens if they outlaw being gay, trans, communist, Jewish, Muslim, autistic…

Ask to put a camera in their bathroom

"Do you have nothing to protect?"

They need to consider the difference between having something to hide and having something to protect. Privacy is something to protect, regardless of what it might be in aid of.

A few points:

• "I have nothing to hide," means you've accepted the premise that the burden of innocence is on you. That you are guilty until proven innocent. There are a couple millenia of jurisprudence, saying 'innocent until proven guilty' should be the default. The US 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments get close, but they don't just come out and say it.

• "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." This has been attributed to a few people from Cardinal Richelieu to Voltaire. But the crux is, anyone can make someone appear guilty. Doesn't matter if you're innocent. The burden of proof has to be on the accuser, otherwise it's down to chaos, and tyrrany of the powerful and the mob.

• Personal privacy by default is one of those fundamental rights that gives us control of a lot of things around us. From freely walking down the street, to our shopping habits, license-plate-readers, location-tracking, who we associate with, and our healthcare.

• Imagine if the rules were changed so any time anyone wanted to use our data, including transactions, web and mobile interactions, credit-card, banking, voting, healthcare, whatever... they had to get explicit, single-use permission. How much weight would be lifted from everyone's shoulder. It means you, the individual are in charge.

• There's academic data on the psychological effects of surveillance. It has actual effect on one's behavior and mental health: https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2024/1/niae039/7920510

• At this point, there are too many privacy leaks. The only reasonable solution is to flip it all on its head. EVERYTHING is private, unless there is a legitimate reason to pierce that veil, and the burden is on those wanting the data.

It'll have financial impacts on many business models. Yes, and? Do better.