I mean for me at least, there’s a difference between the government accessing info from my phone, and random people. My info would be part of a mass pool of info for the government, nothing in particular stands out that would be weirder than what anyone else has. They won’t bat an eye, they probably won’t even care. But a person standing in front of me with my phone will take my info immediately in the context of me, without anything else for comparison or any sort of desensitization to the topic. I could get mocked or made fun of, because it isn’t a mass data pool with mine in there, it’s just my data, because they want my data. And I don’t know why they do, either, or what they’ll do with it in the immediate, since they know me personally. I’m not an open book to everyone, but in the face of government security, my info isn’t going to be eye-catching in the least.
That is only if the government is not authoritarian, and you’re not someone standing against them (activist, journalist, etc.) It was in fact a government, that of Saudi Arabia that murdered Jamal Khasshogi and put spyware on his wife’s phone for speaking out against the Saudi royal family.
Definitely. I speak from the fortunate position of being under the Canadian government. Far from perfect, but trustworthy enough that they can read my info and just not really care much about it one way or the other
I mean I’ve also heard of stories of nutjob conservatives literally buying data on abortion seekers since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, so I don’t think even relatively free Western countries are free from such worries. I’d rather do whatever I can to minimise the amount of personal info anyone has on me, whether it be corporations or governments, than regret it later.
I mean for me at least, there’s a difference between the government accessing info from my phone, and random people. My info would be part of a mass pool of info for the government, nothing in particular stands out that would be weirder than what anyone else has. They won’t bat an eye, they probably won’t even care. But a person standing in front of me with my phone will take my info immediately in the context of me, without anything else for comparison or any sort of desensitization to the topic. I could get mocked or made fun of, because it isn’t a mass data pool with mine in there, it’s just my data, because they want my data. And I don’t know why they do, either, or what they’ll do with it in the immediate, since they know me personally. I’m not an open book to everyone, but in the face of government security, my info isn’t going to be eye-catching in the least.
That is only if the government is not authoritarian, and you’re not someone standing against them (activist, journalist, etc.) It was in fact a government, that of Saudi Arabia that murdered Jamal Khasshogi and put spyware on his wife’s phone for speaking out against the Saudi royal family.
Definitely. I speak from the fortunate position of being under the Canadian government. Far from perfect, but trustworthy enough that they can read my info and just not really care much about it one way or the other
I mean I’ve also heard of stories of nutjob conservatives literally buying data on abortion seekers since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, so I don’t think even relatively free Western countries are free from such worries. I’d rather do whatever I can to minimise the amount of personal info anyone has on me, whether it be corporations or governments, than regret it later.