Why care about privacy when you’ve got nothing to hide?
by Patrick Lee, CEO of Boogle Group
There may be a lot of reasons to care about privacy which seems too abstract to our daily lives. Sure, privacy is a right, a human right we didn’t always have, and one that our generation takes for granted, just like the right to equality, justice, freedom, the right to practice one’s own religion, and many more. Beyond these ideas, I want to talk about the practical reasons why we need to be more active in caring about our privacy every single day.
1. Information in the wrong hands becomes dangerous.
You may trust your government, security agencies, and companies to store and keep your private information privately and securely. What happens when a data breach happens, their systems get hacked, and your information falls in the wrong hands?
It’s important to remember that in this situation, data can do a lot of damage. Just take a look at the Facebook- Cambridge Analytica scandal. They’ve manipulated public opinion and interfered with elections. Data in the wrong hands have destroyed credit scores and put people in debt. That’s, what happened in the Equifax database breach which exposed the private information of nearly 148 million Americans. Even in Singapore, a total of 1.5 million personal data and medical records were stolen in 2018 during the SingHealth data breach.
All this information out in public leaves you vulnerable to anyone who wants to do harm to you and your family.
2. Your data has value in the economy.
Data is the oil of the digital era, adding huge value to companies and national economies.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau State of Data Report 2018, American Corporations are expected to have spent over USD $19 billion last year acquiring and analyzing consumer data, from names and emails to the unique way we fumble with our smartphones, even details like which type of device you have, and the time of the day you make a purchase. Despite all the power and value that data has, their area few laws in the world regulating the collection and sale of it.
These businesses amass, analyze and sell your information while you the user, get nothing at all in return while big tech companies continue to profit from your data.
3. Privacy is something that you need in order to explore, gain insight, and make big decisions about your life.
You might be a young adult trying to understand your sexuality. You might be contemplating a career change. You might be going through a tough time psychologically or emotionally. You might be reading up on ideologies that are different from what you were raised with — maybe Christianity if you live in Iran, or Islam if you’re in the Bible Belt. Without privacy to do such self-exploration, are you really free? Our perception of ourselves in the public and private spaces define how we behave, otherwise, we are not able to explore and be our truest most authentic selves.
The good news is, there are lots of things we can do as individuals and as a society to fix this mess. I’ll elaborate more on the next post. As we continue to bring more and more of our daily life to the digital world, let’s make it our responsibility today to really care about privacy, enough to break old habits. Let’s update our definition of privacy, recognize the value and power of data, and fight back.
Follow more of our CEO’s thoughts on his LinkedIn.
Try out Boogle.com, the first decentralized search engine built on blockchain where you can earn as you search, and no single entity owns or acts on your data without your permission.
