Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

Edward Snowden

I have a hard time convincing anyone about the state of our wide open digital lives. Most people are so deep in the labyrinth, particularly those born in 2000s, onward, that the insipid nature of Big Tech and the data leeching of us and who we are, is secondary to next day delivery and a TikTok hit.

Ok, that may be slightly flippant, the larger and main issue is around the social side of things and the fact it is almost anti-social to be careful with your data. Isolation is a big deal. Second to that is “Free” what that means and what it actually is compared to what it sounds like. The majority of people are used to email being free and social media being free. The question that isn’t asked is how is that workable in this late stage capitalist society.

It still costs money to send a letter, the barrier to email isn’t as high, but there is still a very real cost to sending and storing email. The same with the hosting of photos on a social media account. The cost is more nuanced and stalker like than some random promoted content on Facebook or inserted posts in Instagram.

This dichotomy is the largest hurdle to the general public voting with their clicks I feel. There are the free plus friends and convenience and we only have to look at the obesity issues in the western world to understand some of the psychological problems here.

TBC