Elon Musk popularised this cope argument a few years ago. It sounds intelligent to people who are incapable of any level of critical thinking or nuance and believe everything in the world is either 100% A or 100% B with no in-between. Sadly, this is a large percentage of the population.
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When they realized they DO actually have something to hide, they moved the goalposts to now say nothing is private online anyway.
The mindset about privacy is just all wrong. It’s not an all or nothing game. Any privacy gain is a net positive to no privacy at all.
To many people conflate privacy with anonymity or try “accomplish” privacy without understanding what they want to be private from and why.
Exactly. Now to click the “copy text” button and keep your fine words handy for my next convo with a friend who thinks life with Facebook and Google is grand.
my guess is its just another flavour of cope.
imo likely because recent history has began to undermine the delusions which were propping up the former flavour.
i had the same thought since i sometimes wonder “why bother” when i know that things like prism gave them everything they wanted 15 years ago.
Haha holy shit id forgotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM
i’m reminded of it each time i see the duct tape covering the camera of my work laptop. lol
Gen Alpha doesn’t care about privacy online. They need to be guided by their parents to care, e.g. when they buy a laptop, they install some Linux distribution.
Privacy also doesn’t exist when you have the entire website being indexed
I’m also a firm believer in you don’t need to freely give up your data
Copium
Wouldn’t it be better to at least put a modicum of effort in to have some privacy, than to put zero effort in and have none at all?
If everyone started using encrypted messaging software, using devices that are resilient to all but the highest levels of forensics, and stuck to social spaces which prevent bots and alt accounts, hosted on servers in countries their own nation’s law enforcement doesn’t have access to, it would massively increase the costs of surveillance. Every layer of that increases the price.
When you let surveilling you become profitable and easy, expect it to get worse. More obtrusive. After all, you’ve displayed compliance up to that point.
Yes, that’s it. As I’ve told friends on several occasions, you know why I encrypt my online life and guard my privacy as if, you know, freedom depended on privacy? Because fuck them, that’s why.
It takes my time and effort, but I just can’t let the bastards win just that little bit more easily. All cops and corps are bastards (ACAB).
The one saying they use copilot for math problems is the worst part. It demonstrates their complete lack of critical thinking.
“No, they would never track us. But if they were, it would be a good thing.”
My “progressive” friends are this way - “everyone already has everything, whatever who cares”
Why? It’s because they never arrived at their current behavior by a systematic progression of logical steps. Most of the behaviors we exhibit aren’t that way. We just offer a post-hoc explanation/justification. They use edge, so they defend their action with any argument assertion they can think of.
It’s also (sort of) because they want to tip the proverbial scale towards their current use. Change takes effort and can be irritating. They have their list of positives about edge (faster, easier, etc.), and they downplay the negatives such as privacy.
Reddit be like.
Yeah a very reddit moment
Ultimately, the sentiment isn’t completely wrong. Using a different browser isn’t going to save you from being tracked. Using one or multiple browser extensions isn’t going to save you from being tracked. Using a VPN isn’t even going to save you from being tracked.
Accounts are pretty much required to use most sites, and many also require connecting a phone number or other personal details. Privacy is actively discouraged, and attempting to pursue it leaves you with many hardships – by design I would argue. You buy a product on one site, with no prior search history about it, and suddenly you start getting emails from unrelated sites about similar products. In capitalism, any information about your habits and interests also becomes a commodity. Why shouldn’t people dismiss privacy in favor of convenience, in such a system? It seems futile to even try.
And if your government is determined to figure out who you are online, then it will. Don’t make the mistake of thinking they don’t know what you’ve been up to, here or otherwise.
It isn’t completely right either. Browsers, extensions and, only in some cases, VPNs can save you from being tracked by some. You are describing first party tracking but the point is mostly to prevent third party tracking. An adblocker and an email relay goes a long way.
I agree with the rest though. Regulation is the only way.
