Don’t Think You Need to Be Worried About Internet Privacy? This Blog Post Is For You
Glenn Greenwald, in a widely viewed TED talk from 2014, summarized quite accurately the view that many people have on the issue of internet privacy. It is commonly believed, he states, that if you don’t have anything to hide, then you don’t need to be worried about internet privacy. He goes on:
This worldview is implicitly grounded in the proposition that there are two kinds of people in the world, good people and bad people. Bad people are those who plot terrorist attacks or who engage in violent criminality and therefore have reasons to want to hide what they’re doing, have reasons to care about their privacy.
But by contrast, good people are people who go to work, come home, raise their children, watch television. They use the Internet not to plot bombing attacks but to read the news or exchange recipes or to plan their kids’ Little League games, and those people are doing nothing wrong and therefore have nothing to hide and no reason to fear the government monitoring them.
The problem with this view is that it fundamentally misunderstands the value of privacy. Below we’ve put together three important reasons why everyone needs pay attention to the issue of internet privacy, as well as some steps you can take to ensure your information stays protected.
1- Privacy Allows Us to Be Ourselves
Privacy allows us to separate our personal sphere from the public sphere. It allows us space to define ourselves, to say things we don’t mean and to explore our thoughts and feelings without fear. All great ideas require a period of private contemplation. Limiting privacy, if nothing else, is dangerous because it limits our ability to be thoughtful and critical citizens.
Even beyond this, privacy gives us an opportunity to manage the things about ourselves that we wish to share with the world. As Jeffrey Rosen writes, “the ideal of privacy…insists that individuals should be allowed to define themselves, and to decide how much of themselves to reveal or to conceal in different situations.”
2- Privacy Protects Individuals from Those in Power
Edward Snowden has used the phrase “turnkey tyranny” to describe a situation where all of the surveillance mechanisms that we tolerated under “trustworthy” democratic regimes might easily be taken over by an authoritarian leader. With the election of Donald Trump this issue becomes all the more real. Trump last year suggested the US needed to “close the internet up” as a way to stop the spread of terrorism and has frequently made attacks against the press.
Privacy is essential to protecting political opposition. In authoritarian regimes, free speech is often the first tactic used by the state to control the population, making any kind of political opposition much more difficult to organize.
3- Privacy is Already Under Attack
Beginning with the Patriot Act put into effect after 9/11, to the more recent revelations of NSA spying, privacy in the US has been compromised time and time again. In the UK, the so-called “Snooper’s Charter” has given the state unprecedented access to the internet browsing history and phone records of its citizens. In Canada, Bill C-51 expanded the state’s surveillance ability with little regard to privacy rights.
Across the world, similar measures have been taken to increase government surveillance capability. And of course, in many other parts of the world, privacy has never been a right that citizens have been granted at all.
What You Can Do
Staying informed about internet privacy issues and vocally opposing these measures is the first step towards political change. However, in the meantime, it is important that citizens protect themselves.
Check out our previous blog post “Three Easy Things You Can Do to Protect Your Privacy Online,” and download the Sly Chat app to make sure all of your online communications stay private. To learn more about internet privacy issues, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
