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Whats the flaw of the "Nothing to Hide" argument? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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To be clear, I don't subscribe to the idea of "Nothing to Hide." It's a bullshit argument. The reason why I'm asking this is because I want to be able to explain why it's bullshit. I don't like the fact that many people, including ones in my family, are willing giving up their right to privacy simply because they've become accustomed to convenience that modern technology has afforded them. I, myself, have been guilty of these but I'm actively taking steps to take back my privacy and potentially help others as well.

Bonus question: Many people will retort with things "Do you want criminals walking our streets?" or bring up an anecdote about how Flock, Ring or any other surveillance companies' cameras helped solve a crime or found a missing person. Flock themselves have a blog post series called #SolvedStories where they list so-called "success stories" about their cameras solving a case. Of course, I don't want criminals walking our streets and, sure, those stories might pull my heartstrings but what's the bigger picture?

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[-] RedPandar@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

The “nothing to hide” argument is disingenuous because it is based on the perspective of each person.

The person saying it will believe they have done everything right.

An outsider can only judge based on their own understanding and beliefs.

If the outsider person judging or convicting only cares about getting the W conviction, they will go to whatever lengths they feel are needed to get the W. This is how the US justice system works. If you allow search, they don’t need to find evidence of the original crime, just any crime. There are also some who manufacture crime or stage it to raise this W rate.

Unless you really trust all parties in to be fair in judgement, the statement itself doesn’t hold ground since it usually will end with conflict or burden of proof.

If I said I have nothing to hide in a game where there are no consequences in losing the game, people aren’t going to go at great lengths to prove me wrong because I might not be happy with them which is a lasting consequence compared to a single loss. If it comes with a paycheck, there’s people who would do literally anything.

this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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