Every time someone says "I have nothing to hide" the downvotes pour in, and it's unnecessary.
"I have nothing to hide" is a perfectly valid and reasonable response to privacy concerns. A lot of people feel that way, because the a lot of people live very boring lives. They legitimately do not believe that they have any secrets that will warrant the attention of the most powerful intelligence apparatus to ever exist. 99% of Americans will never do anything in their lives that holds the attention of any federal agency of any kind. We're all unique, like snowflakes, but very few of us will ever matter at the national level. The numbers just don't work out.
There's very little evidence that the intelligence community has done anything to harm the average citizen with information gained through any kind of surveillance. Some people are going to feel that they have nothing to hide until the government's actions make them feel otherwise. It's a practical and pragmatic point of view for people who aren't interested in the philosophical or the hypothetical.
Commenters who use the phrase aren't saying anything about what level of privacy is right for you, but stating what they feel is right for them. There's nothing wrong or offensive about that, it's a matter of preference not a matter of fact. There are two sides to this issue, and a one sided discussion isn't going to do anyone any good.
"I have nothing to hide" is a perfectly valid and reasonable response to privacy concerns.
No, it really isn't, because we're discussing government policy, something that impacts "we", not "I".
Saying that "you have nothing to hide" is at the very least tremendously selfish, because it carries the implication that policy should be made based on that stance. We're talking about what the NSA is doing to everyone, in contravention of the supreme law of the land. What one person does or does not want is a red herring and not part of the discussion.
So, you assert that you are not and have never committed unpunished felonies and misdemeanors? And you also assert that you not break future laws with current/past data?
Fuck if I know if I committed breaking laws. I don't murder or steal, or any of the common law obvious stuff. But how do I know the age of the girl in that Internet advert that was in a sexual pose: that's a felony under the letter of the law. Or I was given a laptop by a family member. Whoops it was stolen. Misdemeanor.
I'm not a lawyer, and I cannot navigate what is legal or not. And I have to keep track of county, city, state, and federal laws, along with jurisdictional changes ( how dare I go on vacation...).
When something as mundane as breaking a EULA turns into a federal hacking case, you DAMN straight I want my privacy.
Accepting full-scale information collection on every individual also means accepting that any future use of that information may be used to harm you. Things that you do now may not be illegal, problematic or even embarrassing, but if they become any of that in 10 years' time, you now have to face a cache of (originally benign) evidence that can be retroactively applied against you.
"I have nothing to hide" is a perfectly valid and reasonable response to privacy concerns. A lot of people feel that way, because the a lot of people live very boring lives. They legitimately do not believe that they have any secrets that will warrant the attention of the most powerful intelligence apparatus to ever exist. 99% of Americans will never do anything in their lives that holds the attention of any federal agency of any kind. We're all unique, like snowflakes, but very few of us will ever matter at the national level. The numbers just don't work out.
There's very little evidence that the intelligence community has done anything to harm the average citizen with information gained through any kind of surveillance. Some people are going to feel that they have nothing to hide until the government's actions make them feel otherwise. It's a practical and pragmatic point of view for people who aren't interested in the philosophical or the hypothetical.
Commenters who use the phrase aren't saying anything about what level of privacy is right for you, but stating what they feel is right for them. There's nothing wrong or offensive about that, it's a matter of preference not a matter of fact. There are two sides to this issue, and a one sided discussion isn't going to do anyone any good.