Don't underestimate the value of privacy. How much (or little) you have to hide is something worth hiding. It's what you do and don't know, do and don't say, do and don't communicate with, this is all important to keep private by default.
There's a tendency for individuals to assume the role of would-be criminal in these discussions. It's more correct to assume criminals exist on all sides, do you have any interest in enabling a corrupt government to surveil its law-abiding citizens? When you don't have privacy, you enable potential criminals in power to see if the populace is aware of their actions, or absolutely distracted by instagram. We're all potential witnesses to crimes, and at this point it's exceedingly likely we'd communicate those observations via smartphones. We all require privacy and secure communications, full stop.
This line of thinking is predicated on two assumptions:
1) That the local authorities are essentially malevolent
2) That it is only the individual's (privacy/security) measures that are deterring the malevolent authority from exploiting them
For most Americans/Europeans, both of these assumptions are false and based in paranoid fantasies. Local authorities are rarely malevolent (though they may commonly be corrupt and excessively self-interested and not care about you), and it is virtually impossible for the average citizen to mount a home defense (real or cyber) against a committed state actor, or even local PD. It's like trying to secure a VM guest from access by the host machine; you're completely surrounded.
I fully support protecting yourself & your privacy against petty criminals, but unilaterally taking on your government is frankly just a waste of life.
It is sacracstic coment depicting the general state of things.
Normalization of surveillance and acceptance of this "new world" from the genereal public trough manufactured consent by the corporations, media and governments is staggeringly fast.
There is not subsitution for privacy, whatever the percieved motivation for "common good" is bringing to the table.
My personal decision is to avoid the surrveilance state by using FOSS solutions and abandon smartphone habbits.
There must be a place for design and software solutions outside the "status quo". Started this year by removing Apple from my business and moving along to educate my customers of incomming dangers for their businesess and personal life.
Don't underestimate the value of privacy. How much (or little) you have to hide is something worth hiding. It's what you do and don't know, do and don't say, do and don't communicate with, this is all important to keep private by default.
There's a tendency for individuals to assume the role of would-be criminal in these discussions. It's more correct to assume criminals exist on all sides, do you have any interest in enabling a corrupt government to surveil its law-abiding citizens? When you don't have privacy, you enable potential criminals in power to see if the populace is aware of their actions, or absolutely distracted by instagram. We're all potential witnesses to crimes, and at this point it's exceedingly likely we'd communicate those observations via smartphones. We all require privacy and secure communications, full stop.