Why are people uncomfortable with being monitored? Why exactly is privacy so damn important?

Privacy is a possession, just like cash, or diamonds. Invaded is stolen.

There are dangerous crazy people all around us. Including the President of the United States. The more the dangerous crazies know about you (how many kids you have, what their names are, where you live, where you work, how much money you have, places you frequent etc.) the easier it is for those people to harm you or your family or to cheat you.

I already have one friend who is dealing with a stalker, one with an abusive ex who she is trying to avoid so he can’t hurt her again, several who have spent lots of money trying to sort out identity theft, and several elderly relatives who constantly get scam phone calls by people who prey on vulnerable elders.

There are many reasons why people want privacy. People don’t want to be harmed, scammed, put on the spot, or humiliated. All things that can happen when a person’s privacy have been invaded.

I have no problem with cameras in public places. I’d rather that so if it a crime is committed, they can find the perpetrator.

I also feel like my phone and internet are subject to being monitored. They can listen or watch all they want. I realize they can watch and may be watching at any time.

One big reason is that people can and do misconstrue or distort just about anything someone does that is captured.

So I may have nothing to hide, but simply an “unfriendly glance” might be considered as something that encouraged destructive behavior or disregard for the welfare on another, even though I am unaware of what is going on.

Or, an innocuous search on the internet for something curious can be construed as being part of a cabal or a terrorist organization.

And mostly because it is no one’s gawd-damned business, and in the U.S. I have a constitutional right to not be subject to search without probable cause.

Right to Privacy

Why Should We Have the Right to Privacy?

The Nothing to Hide Argument

Counter to the Nothing to Hide Argument

You May Have ‘Nothing to Hide’ But You Still Have Something to Fear

Why ‘I Have Nothing to Hide’ Is the Wrong Way to Think About Surveillance

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Privacy in Serbia: Overview

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia 2006 (Serbian Constitution) does not expressly refer to the right to privacy. However it does regulate some aspects of privacy, such as:
Inviolability of the home (Article 40, Serbian Constitution).
Confidentiality of letters and other means of communication (Article 41, Serbian Constitution).

Protection of personal data (Article 42, Serbian Constitution).
The right to freedom of opinion and expression (Article 46, Serbian Constitution).
Serbia is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Under the Serbian Constitution, ratified

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Any government, any constitution, any individual law, any leader can change overnight. Information on or about any individual, or any individual’s behaviour may be viewed as unimportant today, but considered subversive and dangerous to the state tomorrow.

Not everything that is illegal is wrong.

Alright Sneki95, nothing to hide. You find your browser history and bookmarks in your browsers profile and upload them. If you tell me what browser you use I will provide detailed instructions on how to find these files and how to send them to me. And I will put them in a place where all of us can see what you are up to on the internet.

You are probably thinking that sounds like a really shitty deal since we could see if you searched for Viagra and that isn’t really fair.

Around 20 years ago I had this weird rash on my leg. I went to my GP and they said that it was something that they had a cream for. But he would not put it in my chart since the fact that it was in my chart could get me denied insurance in the future since it was a pre-existing condition.

So lets walk that a bit further. What if the insurance companies know what I search for. Oh, johnpowell (I.P=207.244.105.122) searched for Psoriasis. Pre-existing condition so deny insurance purchase.

And with the thing Obama signed that was set to be enacted soon where ISP’s couldn’t sell your browsing history being overturned by Trump it is fair game. Now anyone can buy your IP, name, SSN, physical address.

It is a fucking nightmare and why only use a VPN now.

@Sneki95 if you’d ever been stalked you wouldn’t bother asking such a question. It’s scary.

Just because you have no idea of the value of privacy, or the limitless potential impacts of being watched and recorded all the time, both practically and psychologically, on people other than how you imagine yourself, doesn’t mean that all those reasons aren’t valuable, and should be violated arbitrarily.

Remember the right to the pursuit of happiness? I’m very unhappy when I feel like I have no privacy. Read all of the links @Espiritus_Corvus posted until you understand. Once you do, or if you read all of them and still don’t understand, please come back and let us know.

Ok, let’s start with a simple example: you go buy something on the internet. You are buying something very innocent and you know in your mind you do nothing wrong. You have to give the website your credit card number because it’s necessary for the purchase. So now the website has your credit card number. Now imagine the website doesn’t respect your privacy and is willing to give the number to anyone. Some random person gets a hold of the number, and they use it to draw money from your bank account. How would you feel?

Understand? Now move on to a more difficult one.

The same story, but imagine the website doesn’t only reveal your number, but also what you buy. Your enemy gets to know it. Now they plot a plan against you. They use what you buy to fabricate a story about you and your item that makes people feel like there is something horribly wrong with you. And you know, the definition of “right” isn’t the same among everyone. What if someone you know have a different feeling about that item? How would you feel if you knew the website is the one that leaks your information in the first place?

I agree that America’s definition of privacy is a bit too much for some people from other cultures, but it doesn’t mean that other cultures shouldn’t have privacy at all.

You have to ask not just why you feel uncomfortable when your privacy is invaded but why someone would want to invade it in the first place.

Remember: new things are made illegal all the time, and very few laws are overturned.

You may be doing things you don’t even know are against the law.

Do you talk to your boss about how raunchy your most recent sexual escapade was? No? Why not? Because some things are your business and no one else’s.

1984 says it all.

@Sneki95 why do you suppose security cameras aren’t allowed in public restrooms?

When you use the restroom in a public building, do you shut the stall door, or are you ok with having random people observe you on the toilet?

@Sneki95

Since you place no value on privacy I assume you will not mind if I come over to your house, install cameras in your bedroom and bathroom, and watch you during your most intimate moments.

Well, it’s guaranteed by the Constitution. For some, if it’s guaranteed by the Constitution it’s the same as God’s Word.
I wouldn’t want cameras in my home, but on the outside, I don’t care.

For perspective, there is no privacy in a jail cell- at least all the ones I’ve seen in pictures (I’ve never been in jail).If you gotta go, you go within full view of anyone walking by.

So there ya go, @Sneki95

@Dutchess_III It is not explicitly guaranteed in the US Constitution. It is implicit as interpreted by the US Supreme Court but only to a limited extent.

Y’all gave the exact reaction I thought you’d give. Jumping and hissing like I bit you in the face.

First of all, to all of those all to glad to jump to conclusions, I do value privacy as much as everyone else. I don’t like people questioning me and messing with my business, to a degree.
Also, in contrary to what some of the crow’s links suggest, I don’t have anything in particular against someone else’s choice to keep their privacy. I don’t give a damn what others do. If you’re all secretive and stuff, your thing.

I still wonder why would I, or anyone else, be upset over being monitored, or knowing people know stuff about me.

Suppose I have cameras all around in my house. What would I do that no one else does anyways? Anything I do in my house is what everyone else does. Why should I care if the public knows it?
Why should I care if I find out what others do, through accident, or out of some necessity?

Is it because of shame? Why should I be ashamed of, say, taking baths, defecating, having sex with a spouse, on not-a-spouse, watching porn, or doing anything else? Again, everyone does that anyways.

And when it comes to stalkers, it’s not the fact that they’re watching you that is harmful, but the fact that they are bothering, harassing, threatening you and others you know. But if someone is just staring at you or following you, without doing any harm, why would you be uncomfortable? Are you afraid of judgment? Why would you be afraid of it? Do you really care what a stranger may think of you? Why do you care? What is it that you’re afraid the stranger would find out?

The another thing is that seeming paranoia, shown in @Mimishu1995‘s answer and @EC’s links.
Someone knows some info about you. Shit, they’ll use it against you!
I mean, why would someone actually care about your credit card number? Why would someone give a damn who are you, what is your number, what you buy, where you go… even if they knew, why do you immediately assume they will abuse that knowledge and do you harm? by “you”, I don’t refer to anyone in particular.
I see one same guy at the bus station. I know where he lives, in which part of the village, when does he travel, where he comes off. Do I really care about all that? Would I abuse it? No, I don’t care. I just know it, through accident. The same way, people, random strangers, like a clerk in the drug store, know stuff about me, but I don’t care if they use it against me in any way. The clerk knows what cigarettes I buy simply because he works there and I come nearly every day, and buy the same brand. Will he use it against me? Does he gossip about me with other workers or customers? I don’t know. I don’t care. Why would I?

What exactly do you fear someone would find out about you? Are you doing anything shameful? Are you the only one that does it? Why would anyone care, even if they know? Why do you immediately think that the info someone has about you will be used against you? again, I use the global “you”, not pointing at anyone in particular

What is it in us that makes us so…..protective….of our stuff, like there are some grave consequences if someone is informed even about the smallest details about us?

I’m not talking only about government surveillance, or criminals, that may be punished for what they do. I talk about privacy in general. People hate even if a neighbour simply peeps into their backyard, as if there are dead bodies there, even if you’ve never done that and there is absolutely nothing out of ordinary about your backyard.
We lock our doors and buy vicious dogs, and take all other measurements to protect ourselves from the ones that will attack us without a doubt, but at the same time, to shelter from the world and create our own bubble no one will ever be able to enter without permission. As if we’re doing something no one should ever know about, or else.

@Seek does have some point there; no one is obligated to know what we do, nor do we have obligation to know about others. However, even if someone wants to know, why would we hide it?

That is what I’m talking about. I’m not “having no value”, I’m as uncomfortable about it as anyone else. I just wanted to understand why do I mind it, why would I have the need to hide anything, as if I’ve done something “wrong” or “shameful”, even if I didn’t, and my life is as mundane as much as everyone else’s.

Great…. Please install https://www.teamviewer.com/en/

Launch it and it will have a little box saying “Allow Remote Control”. Send me a PM with that info and I will look around.

You have nothing to hide. Just a normal person doing normal things. Prove it.

@johnpowell Ok.

To be fair to Sneki95 they appear to have given me a valid teamviewer access code. But they closed the app right away so it is worthless.

@Sneki95 “Y’all gave the exact reaction I thought you’d give. Jumping and hissing like I bit you in the face.”

No, you asked for our point of view, we all gave you our point of view. If you don’t want honest responses then don’t ask the question.

@Darth_Algar I never wrote you were dishonest, I wrote you reacted in a way I expected you’d react.

^^^Which implies that you didn’t actually want the answers you knew you’d get.

That was somewhat worthless. Their computer was in Russian or a similar language. And they are using XP with what appears to be a CRT monitor.

But mad props to them. They did let me in. I just couldn’t read anything.

@johnpowell Them? It’s only me, watching my mouse move around, slightly amused. it’s cool

And the comp is in Serbian, not Russian.

CRT. Heh, you entered mom’s computer in the other room! So cool! :D

btw, I don’t use Mozilla, but Opera. It was open all the time.

@sneki95 it appears that you either didn’t read all of our answers, or you simply don’t understand.

The most obvious one is the part about the stalker. Why would anyone be afraid of a stalker watching them? Because if he can see them, on FB or on a hidden camera or other places where a person would expect a modicum of privacy, or if a person’s address is given out freely, even if the person moved away to escape the stalker, then that person can be found and possibly harmed.

If a woman with children is trying to escape an abusive husband/boyfriend, having her address, job location, car license number, or name change published freely, puts her and her children at risk.

There’s many other examples of all sorts of information, if it was known freely, could cause all sorts of harm, embarrassment, possibilities for losing one’s job or friends or social standing, even if those people are not engaged in any illegal activities.

Why would you think everybody is doing the same type of stuff at home that you are?

Ok, I need to make some things clear a bit. I’m going to speak from both sides of this argument without favor on any side.

I know you Americans put a lot of value on privacy. It is not only something that is ingrained in your culture, but also a concern as many creepy types of crime appear. You have stalkers, hackers, killers, kidnappers, hooligans lovers/exes, creeps with strange obsession… There is a reason to fear that someone is prying into your private life, especially for their benefit. But American privacy takes a bad rap from other cultures because of the individualism associated with it. Americans are often thought of as cold and paranoid for caring too much about privacy.

In some other cultures, “privacy” isn’t a word at all. It is a foreign concept to them until recently (the “if you are excluded from the group you will die” mentality”). To them if you don’t do anything bad, there is nothing to hide from your fellows. One more thing that contributes to their disregard of privacy is that some countries don’t have the creepy crimes America has actually I didn’t even know what a stalker was until I had the internet. Because privacy isn’t a thing in the first place, people don’t think of it when a crime takes place, or even when they plan a crime.

@Sneki95‘s attitude is like many people in my country. They freely give out information that some of you American jellies find sensitive when asked. The information may not cause any harm since people don’t know what bad thing to do with it, but if it happens in America, I guess the outcome will be different. And beside, we live a much more simple life than you Americans, so we don’t have that much chance to encounter “dangerous situations” you fear of. Hell, even a stalker in my country doesn’t even know they are stalking and think it’s just an innocent act of friendliness.

Just let you see the two sides of this argument.

You think you’re not doing anything others don’t. That’s fine.

What happens when the law changes, and all of a sudden the normal things you are doing become illegal?

I write stories for fun, for myself. Any writer can tell you that their internet search history would be damning evidence in a court, because research is a thing that needs to happen.

Do I not have the right to study what concentration of carbon dioxide in a room would kill someone without being put on a list?

Do I have the right to look up medical symptoms without my health insurance company deciding I’m a risk and kicking me off?

Do I have the right to talk online about being an atheist without worrying whether that’s going to become an arrestable offense in the future, and my past posts lead to my disappearance?

I don’t care if your life is so boring and vanilla that you feel you’re completely normal and have nothing to hide.

I’m a very boring person, and I have plenty to hide.

If you really want to know why privacy is so valuable you should read up on life under the Stasi before the reunification of Germany.

The main problem is that a surveillance society fundamentally creates positions of extreme power (who are often not elected and whose identities are secret). These people have a nearly unlimited ablility to manipulate others via blackmail, or through framing others (e.g. politicians, or powerful CEOs) to keep/maintain their power. It is nearly impossible to hold them accountable. If you oppose them they can plant kiddy porn on your computer, threaten your family, or otherwise ruin the lives of you or your loved ones.

That power is too dangerous to entrust to anyone without accountability.

^^Exactly. That is how J. Edgar Hoover lasted so long, wielding blackmail over presidents and many other national political leaders, thus undermining our democracy. And don’t forget Lavrentiy Beria under Stalin. He wielded so much power that Stalin finally had to find a way to have him shot. He lasted longer than every high official under Stalin, which was quite a feat.

@Mimishu1995 I don’t understand. Do other countries not have people with mental problems? The kind of problems that cause them to obsess about other people or things? The other day I read a horrifying story about a 22 year old women with autism who was lured into a trailer, then sexually attacked by this guy for 3 days. For some reason the writers thought it was important to mention that the guy was undocumented. He was from Honduras or some place.

I have nothing to hide, but what happens in this house is nobody’s business but my own. To have access to peoples’ personal life behind closed doors is the same as being a peeper. The last I heard that was still illegal.