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Few tricks to deal with those "if you have nothing to hide you shouldn't be concerned about surveillance" folks: 1. Tell them its not about hiding something, b
by joering2 8y ago
Few tricks to deal with those "if you have nothing to hide you shouldn't be concerned about surveillance" folks:
1. Tell them its not about hiding something, but its all about that you don't have anything to share with them. If they argue against (why?), ask them their favorite color and counter-argue trying to convince them to start liking some other color instead. Hopefully eventually they see stupidity of such discussion.
2. If 1 doesn't work, then hand them over a piece of paper and pencil and tell them to write their Gmail password. If they decline telling you "Well, I don't want you to read my emails", quickly answer "wow, now I truly wonder what you have to hide?!? What kind of emails are you sending and tho whom? I mean if you have nothing to hide then you should be okay with me reading your emails, no?".
3. Finally, if 1 and 2 doesn't work, try a bathroom trick. Invite them over for some cookout at your house with beer or wine. Keep pouring drink as much as you can and keep them at least for an hour (watch movie, play some boardgame, etc). Eventually they will have to use bathroom. Follow them on their way and once they close the door, open them immediately before they have a chance to lock it and tell them: "no, no, no, no! I don't close or lock doors in my house! Look, I know you just going to pee, but still if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be closing and locking doors after yourself, don't you think so? Unless you know... you plan to build a bomb or answer some jihadist emails in my bathroom, but you are not, right? So keep them wide open please".
That's all I got. If someone has better ideas, please share!
- wepple 8y agoAnother one from a slightly different angle I use is: Imagine we’re all having dinner, talking about a particular politician. We’re sharing our thoughts and opinions, likes and dislikes. In a parallel universe, we’re doing exactly the same, except the politician is sat at the table having dinner with us. Are we going to say the exact same things in both universes? No, you’ll change your behavior when you know someone is watching. Even if you have nothing at all to hide, knowing that you’re being monitored or observed or that there’s even a remote chance it will come to light - you don’t act with full autonomy. That’s wildly dangerous in a democratic society. (Rough translation of the idea of the panopticon)
- dredmorbius 8y agoEven if you've nothing to hide, others may. Much as with free speech.