(Please don’t downvote just because I need some help.)
I was once a privacy nut. But it’s getting so hard nowadays, and there are so many more important problems – global warming, AI, the inevitable collapse of the current world order… how does privacy improve the world? Please help remind me.
I do approve of privacy, of course. All this protect-the-children flak is bullshit. I just can’t remember why I thought it was something worth fighting for and preaching about.
Not only is it a sliding scale, it’s a multidimensional one because it also depends on what your threat model is. “Privacy” from an abusive partner snooping on your phone to discover your escape plan, “privacy” from Target trying to market diapers to you when nobody even knows you’re pregnant yet, “privacy” from Cambridge Analytica trying to psychoanalyze you so they can better target you with right-wing propaganda, and “privacy” from an authoritarian government because you’re a journalist trying to protect whistleblowers are all different goals that may require different strategies to achieve.