| You don't understand all the complexities in how legislation is created or why the executive does certain things. You may have disagreements with many of those laws and actions — if not now, you will the next time power changes hands/parties. How can you prevent yourself from being manipulated all the time? How can you prevent yourself from being extorted or blackmailed for something society (or your circle) doesn't approve of? How can you prevent the rest of the citizens in your country from being manipulated all the time? How can you make sure that investigative journalists and activists don't "disappear" or don't get shutdown with scandals or shaming or blackmail? How can you know the truth about whoever these people are fighting against? The foundation for all these is that you need, and everyone needs, privacy and strong privacy protections. You cannot have a free society without it...but only a mirage of it where you believe whatever those who are in positions of power and influence tell you to believe. They could be political, corporate, religious, or other people/groups/entities. They might even be from another country. There's something called "balance of power". Usually, governments are more powerful and have more ways to control or subjugate common people (even in free democracies). One of the things (not the only thing) to counterbalance that is privacy for common people (so information can flow easily). The same can be said of large corporations too, who are usually so rich that they can lobby or nudge or push politicians to do things to their bidding (something you as an individual may never be able to). If some corporations rely on privacy intrusions to grow larger and gain more influence, obviously we need strong protections from them. Privacy usually doesn't seem to matter to those who are privileged enough to or able to live a comfortable life without trouble from other people. But once you face issues or take a deeper look at those who are not as privileged, you may understand why this is such a big deal. Those people are the ones most vulnerable to power, corruption, etc., and they're also the ones who cannot fight by themselves in many instances without the protection that privacy offers to their supporters. If you're somewhat well off that you can afford to spend some money (even by foregoing eating out a couple of times a month), then you can surely opt for (paid or donationware) services that aren't relying on your personal information to stay in business. [Anyone further interested can also check out my profile here for a little more on this topic] |