Privacy- Why Should You Care, Even Though You Might Have 'Nothing to Hide' | Nullify

Privacy-Why Should You Care, Even Though You Might Have "Nothing to Hide".

Privacy , A word that has been in forefront of most discussions by Indians in the recent past ever since the Aadhar debate and the consequent supreme court case and ruling.

 

 What is privacy?

The dictionary defines privacy as a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people or the sate of being free from public attention. Now this is not an alien concept to us infact almost all of us value privacy,it is the reason we lock our doors, the reason why we set passwords. The question that needs answering is what entails privacy in the 21st century and why privacy matter?

Ever since the advent of the era of social media and the tech industry churning out new innovation every now and again privacy, as we used to understand it started taking a backseat in the public imagination. Somewhere between sharing important pictures and sharing every bit of information about us and every chore we do seem to have collectively forgotten the value of privacy and how the state could if needed, use all the technology available for mass surveilanceand what that could mean for the society as a whole. This ignorance was put on display when the whole 'Edward Snowden and the CIA' debacle came to light. Its safe to assume the USA is not the only country that is allegedly spying on all its citizens for "safety purposes".While the officials and some section of the society(commonly the supporters of the government in power currently)has tried to defend it as it being for the greater good and empowering the defensive  capability of the country. The most common reasoning that is being thrown around is why should anyone without anything to hide worry about this. While seemingly a simple and luring reasoning this over simplification notion breaks down under close introspection. Here are a few reasons why even those who seemingly support such an intrusion of privacy might want to reconsider their notions.

Remember the last time you were in a bus/train and you were chatting with someone or surfing your social media and you noticed someone behind you peeping and trying to see what you were doing. Remember how uncomfortable you felt? Well that is the government now and unlike that person behind you who doesn't have a clear view of what that is you are typing the government can if needed read through all your chats. Locking your phone or changing your posture so as to hide your screen from the one behind you isn't going to help you this time . Your best friend might not be the only one who knows about your intimate secrets anymore and its not okay. Your unpopular politicial opinion(which is an integral part of a democracy) that you shared with someone on social media or say during a conversation(yup,they can access your phone's mic) you might just end up being on a list.

Does Aadhar violates your privacy?

Lets read away from the surveilance capabilities of social networks and phones for now and look at some thing a little different. Take a case of Aadhar in India. an all composing biometric system which acts as a unique identifier and can be used to effectively roll out government services to people and serves as a digital identity of a person.At first glance this seems hardly something to be worried about and in fact should be revered but further introspection shows this is hardly the case and how its in an infringement on privacy of the citizens. Say its made mandatory to include your aadhar id for every major transaction you make. Everything you buy can be traced back to you and logged into a database which if needed can be used to make a profile of you unlike today where you are the sole person who can construct a true picture of your life from say your travelinng info,bank account ,mobile phone,employment identity etc,what adding a unique biometric card number to every public and private database does is give the government the power to create  a profile on you. You would not let a creep follow you around and take note of every transaction you make, why would the government be any different? and how are you to know that government officials won't make a false assumption about you from the data they have. its hardly out of the domain of possibilities . The consequences of those database being hacked and what someone could do with that level of information is a dangerous matter altogether to itself. (This hardly scratches on the surface of the privacy concerns regarding Aadhar and is merely used to highlight a small point , the wire has a great article solely about how aadhar infringes on privacy if you want to read up on it). 

What does a loss of privacy mean?

To answer we need only to remind ourselves of that are time we were doing something private say doing a goofy dance or singing to ourselves and then we suddenly reaize we were being watched and we somewhat involuntarily returned to being our normal self.We as human beings have a tendency to conform to the norms set by the society when we are aware of being watched as we are social beings. The mere knowledge of being watched makes us act  different . This gives the state the power to make a complaint and non threatening group of citizens forever conforming to the wills of the government, who never so much as dare to draw outside the line.What entails as good or bad to the government might not always be what entails as good to us. Mass surveillance gives the state enough power over the citizens as to make them abide by the rules that they dictate which as we already know might not always be for the public good and often for individual gains. By accepting to be surveilled we are basically giving a group of politicians often drunk on power tools that they can exploit at will.

All of us value privacy as is evident by we not wearing T-shirts with our email id and password printed on it or does not want anyone going through our phone. Privacy is a fundemental right, if taken away it cutails creativity as we are unable to let our though run havoc.It is important we fight for what littile of privacy we have left. Unlike social media where we have some form of choice on what to be made public and what not to be, the government might not offer us one . Lets not watch by Orwells fiction turns into a reality, 1984 is frightening enough as a novel, a big brother like character is the last thing we need in our life.