this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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The only thing that can stop a bad guy with access to my private phone data is a good guy with access to my private phone data. /s
They only thing that can stop a bad guy with surveillance fetish is the same bad bad guy with suddenly found exhibitionism fetish. OK, that's not new, see "Enemy of the state" movie.
Fuck me, that’s good
I’m stealing that
In the same vein, with my family I've been using the analogy of "Imagine that all law enforcement had a key to your home, and they could enter at any time and look through your things, but you wouldn't even know it if they did, or if they took photos or recorded videos of your place to take with them. Their argument is that the only way to keep you and your stuff safe from the bad guys is for the good guys to have access. But because the good guys now have access, it's also easier for the bad guys to get in, because now there's all these extra keys to your home out there, which might fall into the hands of the bad guys."
Not a perfect analogy, but it seems to make them consider the issue from a more personal angle. And for those that argue, "Well, I don't have anything to hide.", I usually counter with "Then why do you close your curtains/blinds when you change your clothes or get out of the shower?" With my dad who grew up during the World War II, it also helped to mention that a law like this, once on the books, will not be easy to overturn, and while he might be fine with our current regime having access to all his data, that might not be the case with future authorities.
Instead of extra keys, perhaps describe it as weaker locks. Would you consider the lock to which every cop had a key to be as strong and secure as a regular lock? And look at the USA for an instance of a new regime that can potentially use vast amounts of personal data to persecute and oppress anyone the fascists don't like. Many people might have (naively) trusted the government with the surveillance Edward Snowden and others revealed, back when they did not perceive the US Government as an immediate threat to ordinary Americans. But the new regime quite clearly is ready to persecute and punish people for their political views, their race, their gender or their sexual orientation, and it now has all that data.
I’d combine both metaphors: police have keys and deadbolts are banned.
The “good guys” CAN get in, and the bad guys can easily break in.
I'm not the person you're replying to, but "weaker locks" feels like something you can make allowances for or work around. "Extra keys" feels like the Damoclean threat that it is.
Yeah. Also we don't have good guys either, but, that sounds nice.