Since the last Wikileaks leak about the CIA, I talked to a handful of people about privacy. Shockingly this is the recap of most responses: “I don’t care if the CIA or NSA is spying on me, I have nothing to hide”. Just because you don’t have anything to hide doesn’t make privacy less important. Here is why you should care about your privacy.
I like to talk about privacy by imagining a short situation: Currently, you probably use a password or your fingerprint for your devices. You use a lock to keep out unwanted people. The same is true for your home. You lock the door so that nobody can come in. You don’t publish all your private photos, chats, and emails neither do you live in a glasshouse with a door which is always open.
It is not a secret that we shot photos from our girlfriend last week. But the reality that not everyone can simply take your phone and have a look at all your photos is called privacy. It is also not a secret where you live. You may find it out with a single call or even on your Facebook page. So your home is not a secret but you still lock the door to enjoy your privacy.
When it comes to daily situations like our home, the locker room, toilets, etcetera privacy is a matter of course. Why is it so different when it comes to our electronic devices?
We lock our doors at home so that no stranger can come in. But still, recent Wikileaks leaks show that not only the CIA has access to every single device of you. The recent leaks show that the CIA lost control over their spyware. Indeed, any hacker worldwide could use the CIA spyware to spy on all of us.
The CIA and random hackers are aliens, we don’t know these people. Still, these people are in theory and even in reality able to watch us. They hack our SmartTV, mobile phones, PCs, iPads, and Macs and they gain access to the microphone and the webcam. Now they have access to our private life. Usually, we lock the door when we arrive home. Why do we allow the CIA and random hackers do come in without our permission?
Don’t simply think about the lack of privacy as a state agency who is reading your funny WhatsApp messages. Privacy is your right and even a human right and a great achievement out of our dark history. We cannot simply say: “I don’t have anything to hide”. Privacy is human. We need to fight for it.
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