this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Privacy

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[โ€“] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This was posted in another thread a few months back, and I found it particularly persuasive: https://thompson2026.com/blog/deviancy-signal/

There's a special kind of contempt I reserve for the person who says, "I have nothing to hide." It's not the gentle pity you'd have for the naive. It's the cold, hard anger you hold for a collaborator. Because these people aren't just surrendering their own liberty. They're instead actively forging the chains for the rest of us. They are a threat, and I think it's time they were told so.

...

On a societal scale, this inaction becomes a collective betrayal. The power of the Deviancy Signal is directly proportional to the number of people who live transparently. Every person who refuses to practice privacy adds another gallon of clean, clear water to the state's pool, making any ripple of dissent ... any deviation ... starkly visible. This is not a passive choice. By refusing to help create a chaotic, noisy baseline of universal privacy, you are actively making the system more effective. You are failing to do your part to make the baseline all deviant, and in doing so, you make us all more vulnerable.

[โ€“] pfried@reddthat.com 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Maybe I'm in a bubble, but I have never seen a single person make the "I have nothing to hide," argument. Not a single one.

When people post arguments against "I have nothing to hide," I always wonder who they're arguing against. It's never posted as a response to someone making that argument. It's always posted as a non sequitur like OP and this blog post. Maybe we should make a c/popularopinions community for these kinds of posts. "I think we shouldn't kill people. Is anybody else with me?" "I think having pizza is better than going hungry."