Sadly, I know a lot of people who are ok with that. They're very much of the opinion, "Well, I'm doing nothing wrong, so I don't care. Especially if it helps catch bad guys". Not really sure how to fight that.
Rather than trying to challenge them on whether they really do have anything to hide, I usually try to challenge their assumption that privacy is an individual right. Privacy isn't an individual right. It's a societal right. It's there to ensure those who want to make change can effectively organize, which is necessary in a democratic society. So you have the right to privacy whether you like it to or not, because society needs it. Keeping your individual porn habits secret is a side effect.
People who tend to argue, "I have nothing to hide," usually think well of themselves. So if you can get them thinking of privacy as a social good, more "we" than "me", then you can show them that supporting privacy protections is more of an altruistic gesture than a vice.
If they want a specific example, the I usually talk about women's suffrage. It's only been 100 years since women didn't have the right to vote in the U.S., and suffragettes were extremely effective in 1919 by organizing privately then showing up in mass to overwhelm legislatures and mount demonstrations that couldn't be silenced or hidden. If lawmakers knew about all those damn women organizing such big events, women likely would not have been successful at getting the right to vote.
Privacy is the lubricant that lets society move, whether it's pro-life movements, pro-pot movements, or any other political movement. They all need privacy to actually be successful.
- yes (hopefully)
- would you tolerate use of software that allows users to more effectively stalk, harass, or worse? [especially your kids?]
- no (hopefully)
- are you aware that software with that power exists today, and that since at least 2007 some of its users have been convicted of using it for stalking/harassing/worse?
- no, tell me more (hopefully)
It's easy to dream up ideal scenarios, such as the above (even though they are almost never realistic). For example, one possible unexpected response to the above question might very well be:
> "Such as Tor?"
Except many people don't realize how often they commit crimes and are unaware of it. Our individual definition of right and wrong doesn't always match up with the laws on the books.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438...
"This will make it easier for a Democratic president to know about and take away your guns."
Others just shrug, too ashamed to say it out loud.
To take it to the extreme. Ask your friends what they think Hitler (or pick some other mass murderer) would have done if he had such capabilities. How many more would have died, and would it have taken as long? They had to go door to door back then and physically search. Now they could just keyword search and not only find you, but everybody you've associated with, and who they associated with. If you wanted to find Jews, or homosexuals, or whatever you wanted...it's all right there. Just type the query in that little box, on that magical little device in your pocket.
That's too much power, for anyone, at any place or any time to have. To say it will never be abused, now or in the future, is believing humans are perfect as-is and things will remain consistently the same from here on out. There has never been a time in human history where things just stayed the same. Very, very short sighted.
Ask your friends if they've ever done or said anything at any point in time in their lives that would absolutely destroy their reputation, if the world could watch it happen right now.
There was a pretty damn good reason why the founders created the 4th amendment. Sadly, those are just words on paper now. We gave it all up for the excuse of 9/11. That was a long time ago now. Technology/storage have been progressing quite rapidly since then. And many consider the person who lifted the veil to be a traitor.
Smile, you're being recorded.