Why does internet privacy matter?

[TheKDub]

So there is one thing I guess I never understood, internet privacy.

I personally don't care if the government read all my emails, knew who I hated, knew who I liked and monitored me.

I've got nothing to hide so why should I care? Why do you care?

Obviously internet pimps and cyber gang bangers care, they don't want to be caught. If you're doing nothing illegal why does it matter

if some old dudes read your private messages and monitor the websites you've visited.

 

If I had some NSA agent following me around in real life, I probably wouldn't act the same. That would get annoying but since

I don't know who's reading my shit & I will most likely never meet them I just don't care.

 

Can't wait to see some responses.

Is it more than just some old guy viewing your personal stuff?

 

Because lots of people have personal information that they don't want shared with others on the internet, or have sent messages/emails to people that they don't want other people seeing, or plenty of other reasons.

 

I myself highly dislike it when people go through my stuff, doesn't matter if its online or a physical object, or if they have my permission or not.

[lutewan]

do u want me to know what porn u like?

[Briggsy]

So there is one thing I guess I never understood, internet privacy.

I personally don't care if the government read all my emails, knew who I hated, knew who I liked and monitored me.

I've got nothing to hide so why should I care? Why do you care?

Obviously internet pimps and cyber gang bangers care, they don't want to be caught. If you're doing nothing illegal why does it matter

if some old dudes read your private messages and monitor the websites you've visited.

 

If I had some NSA agent following me around in real life, I probably wouldn't act the same. That would get annoying but since

I don't know who's reading my shit & I will most likely never meet them I just don't care.

 

Can't wait to see some responses.

Is it more than just some old guy viewing your personal stuff?

 

The problem is that it isn't some old dude reading your sext messages, but a supercomputer that analyzes everything from personality, behavior traits, intent etc. in text, photos and video. It's basically a primitive version of pre-crime that currently exists. 

 

A corrupt/paranoid government will do everything in its power to prevent revolt. being able to preemptively arrest people as a potential threat (for whatever reason) sounds nuts, but that's the future this technology will usher in. 

 

And don't even get me started on the dangers of government and corporations merging interests with private data.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

do u want me to know what porn u like?

 

Well not you, because you don't work for the government, it's not your job, you don't need to keep it confidential.

[lutewan]

Well not you, because you don't work for the government, it's not your job, you don't need to keep it confidential.

the government doesnt need to keep it confidential.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

the government doesnt need to keep it confidential.

 

Yes, obviously they need to, it's the proffesionnal secret. 

[ShadowCaptain]

What's the difference though?

That photo is being sent to snapchats servers, stored on their hard drives, don't forget about your ISP, watch out for apple, they collect data and finally NSA views the photo for your safety. 

The difference is, those things should be encrypted so only me and the recipient have access then nobody else can see it

 

it should not be freely accessible to everyone

[ArchieTect]

Pretend you have been researching "car parts for a honda" because you are shopping around for some routine maintenance to your car. The next day you drive to Walmart and accidentally smash your hood and fender on a light pole. You are an organized person and expediently call your insurance company to get it fixed.

 

Your insurance company casually calls up your ISP and discovers you were searching google for car parts, and you also visited a page "Look at these 5 people who got rich after an accident!" (Hey, sometimes we all visit clickbait)-  coincidentally the week before. However they don't know the coincidence, so they have you arrested for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

 

Since there's no privacy on the internet, they can see your poor credit and can build a court case showing how you are typically poor, have been google searching for car parts for a month, and after realizing how expensive car parts are, you researched how to get rich from an accident and therefore got the idea to damage your car to claim insurance money.

[Ertman]

Well how do you feel about privacy in the rest of your life?

[shujin]

Subliminal messaging? not sure I have seen that anywhere

subliminal messaging in movie or at the television is illegal so yeha you shouldn't see those ^^

[Whorax]

...seriously?

[KE2012]

This reminds me alot of Butters in the SP NSA episode. 

[Uncle_Denski]

The issue with 'I've got nothing to hide' is more sinister than simply 'everyone has something they don't want others to see', or 'what is legal today might become illegal tomorrow'.

 

I have read through this thread and a few more serious implications have been missed out.

 

I recently finished writing a paper (MSc student), attempting to gather my thoughts on privacy. It is by no means exhaustive, rather is more to stimulate conversation and debate. The argument is rooted in academia, encompassing the domains of law, privacy, security, information systems management, marketing, and behavioural psychology.

 

If you wish to read it, here is a link to the document: Google Doc

If people do want a brief, I will quickly sum up the points made.

 

The issue is such:

 

1. Governments and organisations are able to infer behaviour. What this means is that they are able to predict, using the information they have gathered on you, what your potential actions are going to be. This 'could' become an issue if they start inferring behaviour and prosecuting people before the fact, rather than after. Basically, punish individuals for actions they have not yet done.

 

2. Influence behaviour through manipulation, using the information they gather to create the greatest effect. The example I provide in my paper is, that facial composites are able to be made from allaying your data. An agency or organisation might look at your 'top friends' and create an identity which you are more willing to accept. Through this it is possible to get a more positive reaction from individuals.

 

There is research and academic material to back what is said up (found in the Google doc link I have attached above).

[-iSynthesis]

So there is one thing I guess I never understood, internet privacy.

I personally don't care if the government read all my emails, knew who I hated, knew who I liked and monitored me.

I've got nothing to hide so why should I care? Why do you care?

Obviously internet pimps and cyber gang bangers care, they don't want to be caught. If you're doing nothing illegal why does it matter

if some old dudes read your private messages and monitor the websites you've visited.

 

If I had some NSA agent following me around in real life, I probably wouldn't act the same. That would get annoying but since

I don't know who's reading my shit & I will most likely never meet them I just don't care.

 

Can't wait to see some responses.

Is it more than just some old guy viewing your personal stuff?

Its against the most basic law (at least in germany). Its just wrong having people reading your personal emails and stuff. Imagine a random dude opening a letter and reading it. Would you care? I thought the way you did too, changed my mind completly though.