The most common arguments against privacy and the use of good crypto are often called the “Four Horsemen of the infocalypse” They are not rational arguments, rather they play on the fears that people have.
logical fallacies:
good people have nothing to fear
I don't need privacy
only bad people hide things
I don't need to encrypt
there are several lines of argument that are already used successfully
We need to understand that this statement is caused by the propaganda logic of “only bad people hide things” and “good people are not victims of surveillance”.Both assumptions are wrong, but never the less widely accepted. When people are say “I've got nothing to hide” they are really saying “I'm a good person”.
We don't need people to believe that they are bad people, we don't need them to believe they need to live in fear. We need people to believe that privacy is good and that they can do something .
“I have nothing to hide”
No doubt, you are a good person. And you probably think that means surveillance does not affect you, because it only goes after bad guys
allow time for the person to comment
The thing is, that is not true.It affects all of us. People make mistakes, and so does the state. For example… give examples of innocent victims of surveillance
there's the inherently selfish argument
that I have nothing to hide
it might be true that I may not be ill
it may be true that II am NOT blind
I still want to live in a world that has hospitals I still want to live on
Street which has accessibility for blind people
it is also the case that I want to have a world where everyone has privacy
and thus dignity confidentiality and integrity in their daily lives without having to ask for it
to beg it from a master because it is the case that when you ask someone for those things
they may not grant them and then you will know you are not free
so what can people do first they can declare themselves to be free
- Jacob Applebaum Source
Accusation: privacy and crypto enable Terror
logical fallacies: surveillance can stop Terror, privacy causes Terror
Truth:
Definition of Terror :
Terror, is […] a policy of political repression and violence intended to subdue political opposition.
Source
Surveillance itself is Terror. Spreading Terror to protect people against Terror is nonsense. All civil rights enable people to do things. freedom of speech enables you to lie. So should we abolish that?
Terror is caused by inequality,poverty, a lack of education and the feeling that one cannot change matters in a peaceful way. To admit that does not sell well for a politician that wants to get reelected. A quick fix, like surveillance looks good “See, I did something”. To fight the real cause of Terror takes a lot of time and effort. Not the forte of most politicians today
Accusation: privacy and crypto enable child abuse
logical fallacy: surveillance stops child abuse
truth: abuse of children or other people is a psychological result of the abuser having been disempowered; surveillance and the irrational belief that policing can prevent abuse are further causes of disempowerment; they contribute to turning people into abusers.
Accusation: privacy, and crypto enable crimes logical fallacies:
surveillance stops crimes and helps to find criminals
if we just had enough surveillance there would be no crime
declaration of human rights constitions: of europe, America
please add links to material like studies that show that data-retention is useless, the cost of surveillance, examples of innocent beeing spyed on etc.
Be prepared for dirty tricks by the dark side of the force. Lying, logical fallacies and propaganda are common tools of opponents of humanrights
We commonly see the media and officials making statements like “the public does not care about privacy” or similar. Common arguments are:
There are few demonstrations against abuse of women too. No one would suggest people don't care about sexual violence. It's simply that people don't feel they can change the situation, this is where we come in. Public media is funded by corporations. Privacy is not in the interest of most corporations.