“Google’s ideal society is a population of distant users, not a citizenry. It idealizes people who are informed, but only in the ways that the corporation chooses. It means for us to be docile, harmonious, and, above all, grateful.”
– Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Why do I care?
Privacy is the ability to selectively reveal information to third parties. It is not the same as anonymity. Privacy has been a core American value since the country’s inception. Without privacy there is no freedom, no democracy, and no individual sovereignty.
“Saying you don’t need privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don’t need free speech because you have nothing to say.”
The more we use the internet, the more data is collected about us. This data is used to build accurate profiles of individuals for the purpose of manipulating, and predicting our behavior. The Third Party Doctrine has made this data accessible to the U.S. Government without a warrant. Yes, anything you upload to Google photos, or send over Facebook DM for example, can and WILL be used against you not only by big tech companies, but also the government.