I know data privacy is important and I know that big corporations like Meta became powerful enough to even manipulate elections using our data.
But, when I talk to people in general, most seem to not worry because they “have nothing to hide”, and most are only worried about their passwords, banking apps and not much else.
So, why should people worry about data privacy even if they have “nothing to hide”?
It’s a basic human right, and if you’re in a restrictive country like North Korea or China, data privacy means everything because individuals don’t know if they’re saying something wrong that could put them in danger.
A friend from college who is Chinese told me that whenever they go back to China for holidays, they have to clear out all the chat history on WeChat, a messaging app commonly used in China. This is because sometimes Chinese guards pick someone’s phone and check for any content that could be seen as critical of China.
It’s already been recorded by then. But I guess they’ll need to send someone out to collect you, instead of you swimming into their net.