Just came up with my father again.
He blames me that mother forgot her phone’s and Google password because I recommended against it being a word.
I mentioned encryption, “not necessary unless you’re doing something illegal”.
When mentioning lack of privacy with targeted advertisements, he said that he actually really likes them, because he bought a couple of things he wanted for years.
I don’t really have good arguments.
Any data that anybody collects of you today, they will keep. You might not be doing anything illegal today, but you have no way of knowing what will be declared illegal tomorrow, or by the next government, or the one after that, or if those will honor the principle of not punishing you for past breaches of new laws retroactively.
People in 1930 Germany did not know it would soon be illegal to have a relationship with a jew, or to talk negatively about Hitler. People in the 2024 USA didn’t think they would soon be in danger for filming ICE raids, or tracking their movements in chat groups.
Another argument is that your data that advertisers or the government collect doesn’t necessarily stay with them. Car manufacturers were shown ( article in German ) to have location tracking data of their customers’ vehicles on virtually unprotected servers facing the internet. Researchers were able to deduct from this data alone who worked for e.g. secret services, who likely cheated on their wife, where their kids went to school and so on. What do you think a malicious actor could do with information clearly showing at which times in a week your house is likely to be empty?
Information about you and your family and social contacts and chats can also be used to better scam you by impersonating somebody you know. “Hey dad, it’s X, got a new number. Can you transfer me some money till next week maybe?” Many people fall for that.
There are also other ways in which data can be used against you without anything strictly illegal happening. Do you really want your car insurance to have data about your driving habits?
Do you want your health insurance to know how often you order pizza? Both might get the idea to increase your payments for that in the future.
Would you want possible future employers to know you have a chronic disease that might mean you’ll call in sick more often than others?
Last but not least, have you never said or done anything really embarrassing that you’d just prefer nobody to know?