[ndarilek]

All of the below examples aside, why not? Why should your wanting to hide something be any more sinister than what you want for dinner? And if you yourself don't have anything to hide, awesome. Is it not worth protecting my right to hide things should I want or need to?

There are many reasons to desire privacy other than wanting or needing to hide something. The existence of this site does not invalidate those. But one great technique, when someone holds a rhetorical gun to your head, is to just reach up and pluck out the bullets, reclaiming and sanitizing the opposition argument. "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." "Guess what, I do have things to hide, and that shouldn't get stigmatized."

[tertius]

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." "Guess what, I do have things to hide, and that shouldn't get stigmatized."

The argument isn't about hiding things, it's about the right to privacy. The right exists whether you have something to hide or not or whether you like to swim or anything else that irrelevant.

And if you don't "have anything to hide" your right doesn't automagically go away.

[ascagnel_]

I disagree with the phrasing -- it shouldn't be about what you want to hide, it should be about what you want to show. I always go back to the same argument: if you're OK with the government recording absolutely everything, does that include the bedroom? The bathroom? I'm not doing anything illegal in there, but it's definitely not something I'd be OK with sharing with the world at large.

[goodcanadian]

If you don't think I have anything to hide, why are you so intent on looking?