My mom claims there is no problems into being tracked and stuff and that “Every normal person will use gmail”;
My brother says you only should hide your data if you are a criminal or something.
“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
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.
“selfish”? Wow. Reminds me of the time my brother just invented I deserve to be doxxed for uninstalling google and youtube from my phone.
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!
I like to remind them that “against the law” can look extremely different depending on the administration at the time.
“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”
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.
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.
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.
Not many. Why? Never play defence.
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.
