Everyone knows your location: tracking myself down through in-app ads

A while ago a co worker told me "why would you care about your privacy? all my data is already out there anyway and what can even be done with it anyway".

What would be the ideal response to such an absurd comment? At the time I found it hard to answer because she surprised me with that opinion.

Edit to note: the explanation should be compatible with a professional context. I don't want to scare my co workers or appear crazy/paranoid.

Seriously, anyone who ever says they have nothing to hide, show them this story.

"A Redding Police Department officer in 2021 was charged with six misdemeanors after being accused of accessing CLETS to set up a traffic stop for his fiancée's ex-husband, resulting in the man's car being towed and impounded, the local outlet A News Cafe reported. Court records show the officer was fired, but he was ultimately acquitted by a jury in the criminal case. He now works for a different police department 30 miles away."

California Law Enforcement Misused State Databases More Than 7,000 Times in 2023 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/california-police-misu...

There are a few examples I use when I hear such ignorant statements: 1. Not caring about privacy cuz you’ve got nothing to hide is like saying you don’t care about freedom of speech cuz you’ve got nothing to say. 2. If you don’t care about privacy, why don’t you poop with an open door, for everyone to observe?

Because I don't want to rest of the house to smell?

A different argument that appeals to some is that you might not have something to hide, but what about the people who do? For the greater good of society, whistleblowers are needed to expose malfeasance by the corrupt and it's going to make it much harder for any of them to come forwards if their reward is literally exile to Russia. If you're in support of a slow slide into dystopia, go ahead and argue against all privacy. Whether a given situation rises to that level is an different but adjacent topic, but appealing to something some people can believe in, such as not letting the rich and powerful get away with being utterly corrupt in their dealings is a way to find common ground, with some. not everyone cares about that though, but it's an additional argument for privacy.

The problem is, I could not formulate anything in this way in a professional setting. I want my co workers to understand because I feel a bit uneasy working with people who do not but I also don't want to scare them.

See https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1drrjtu/i_dont_have_....

My examples:

- You get an HIV diagnosis (or other terrible disease). Do you want everyone you meet to know?

- You feel depressed or burnt out. Should your employer know?

- You're financially in a bad place. Do you want your kids to know? Do you want your kids' friends to know?

- Do you share your salary with everyone?

- If someone's gay, should this be public information?

- Should your religion be public? Your political points of view?

Losing privacy makes you more vulnerable to economic exploitation (price discrimination, salary negotiation, insurance premiums, etc). Therefore protecting your privacy is a form of economic self-defense.

Just ask for their email password and see what they say. Usually though this comment is just them trying to change the subject because very few people know or care about any of this