What are some of you guys searching for? Personally I don't search for anything which I would be embarassed about. And surely the things I search for cannot be used to sell me anything (I don't buy things because of commercials). So I don't really worry all that much about privacy.
This is one of the dumbest excuses and the mantra of the complacent... "if you're not doing anything wrong, then there's nothing to worry about".
Wrong.
That's the
same argument that the government has often used to justify taking away the privacy of citizens. Who decides what "wrong" is, and what happens when your definition starts to disagree with the government or the corporations that fund them? The idea that "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about" assumes that the government is full of good people that would not abuse their power, ever. Even if this were true now (
and it is obviously not), we cannot be sure it'll be true or much worse in the future. The information collected is usually indefinite or permanent.
If you've nothing to hide, reveal publicly, along with a photo of your kids, where they go to school, and what time they walk home. And what their favorite candy is. Or go ahead and post the medications that everyone in your family uses, all their phone calls, a list of all their friends and their email addresses, social security numbers, phone numbers, and mailing addresses. Let's also get a video feed and aim the camera at your house. Let's see if you really believe that. Make sure to include the ages, all their past internet purchases, and a list of the web sites they visit. I mean, hey...
if they aren't doing anything wrong, what would they have to worry about... right?
Did anyone learn lessons from the
nazis that got their list of all the Jews from IBM? Do you think that there could ever be anything legal that you could do
that corporations or government wouldn't like?
You also assume that these
companies never get hacked! We very well know that many
companies were hacked and then the data was sold to anyone by hackers. So even if the
government and corporations that collect all your data were innocent, you still do not account for the fact that
your personal information is worth money - black market, legal, illegal, or otherwise.
So the argument that you have nothing to hide because you aren't "doing anything wrong" is very naive and foolish.