EFFecting Digital Freedom

by Jason Kelley

Against Privacy Nihilism

Maybe it happens when you're explaining the importance of end-to-end encryption to a flummoxed friend or family member.  Maybe it's when you're trying to find the "Don't Share My Data" option in a new app, and it's buried so far in the settings menu that you want to scream.  Or maybe you found out about something good - that a new privacy protection exists, for example - but it feels like a grain of sand in an ocean of dangers, and you still feel completely overwhelmed at what it takes to truly protect your private life from the people, governments, and corporations that seek to invade it.

That feeling of despair - the idea that there's nothing you can truly do to protect privacy, so you may as well throw up your hands - is often called "privacy nihilism."  It's summed up in the far-too-popular phrase, "Privacy is dead."

Lately, I've seen it tossed around a lot.  And I get it; many of us who get this feeling are the ones who care the most about privacy.  Sometimes, in my worst moments, I have that feeling, too.  But I also know, deep down, that this feeling is flat-out false.  Here's why.

You may feel like there's nothing you can do, alone, to move the needle.  But you aren't doing it alone.

First, remember that the fight for privacy is a collective effort.  Organizations like EFF unite tens of thousands of members who care about protecting privacy, and there are many dozens of organizations, maybe hundreds, like ours around the world.  We wouldn't all be working together if privacy was already dead.  And we aren't the only ones who care: Americans overwhelmingly support new privacy protections, and in general, the country has grown more concerned about how the government uses our data, according to trustworthy surveys.

Maybe you're feeling despair because there aren't more comprehensive privacy laws in the U.S., and it may feel like we will never get them.  Well, I am upset too, but there is definitely progress in the laws.  Just as one example - the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 granted important rights for Californians, and this year's DELETE Act made it even more effective.

Soon, anyone in California will be able to easily opt-out of data collection for many data brokers, and delete the data collected about them as well.  This is just one step in the fight, but it's an important one.

Change takes time, and the journey to comprehensive privacy protections is a marathon, not a sprint.  Today we take many privacy protections for granted, and often assume that things are only getting worse, not better.  But many important rights are relatively new.

Legal victories like the Supreme Court ruling in Carpenter v. United States, requiring warrants to obtain cell phone location data, are evidence of this real, crucial progress.  The fight is long, and we know that.

Some of the progress is technical, not legal.

The widespread adoption of the HTTPS protocol for web encryption is a significant win for online security and privacy.  Achieved in basically under a decade, this shift highlights the effectiveness of concerted efforts to create and spread privacy-preserving technology.

The evolution of privacy tools is also real progress, and worth celebrating.  We've gone from complex methods of private communication like PGP and GPG to user-friendly options like Signal and WhatsApp, which many more people can (and do) use.

There are many, many other examples: the Tor Browser offers fairly simple anonymous browsing and routes around censorship; password managers protect your passwords and your accounts; third-party cookie blockers like Privacy Badger stop third-party tracking.  These tools all push the needle forward, sometimes in place of strong privacy laws, but often, as part of a concerted effort to get us there.

In truth, most of us still have rich private lives, primarily free from government surveillance, and most of us can choose not to allow corporate surveillance into those lives as well.

Yes, there are certainly spaces where privacy is in danger, and there are some communities who have far fewer privacy protections than others.  This is absolutely a problem we must solve.  But we are working to improve it, and the awareness of it is part of the process - knowing where those less private spaces are, and who has less privacy, helps us all take precautions to defend ourselves.

Our advice when you're feeling nihilistic?

Be practical: use threat modeling - the practice of identifying specific threats to your privacy and taking concrete, practical steps to protect yourself.  Figure out what threats you specifically should worry about.

Next, stay informed and involved: engage with privacy initiatives where you can, and participate in the ongoing conversation about digital privacy.  EFF is constantly offering ways for you to make your voice heard, and to spread awareness.

Maybe you've never had that feeling of despair.  That's great.  Hold onto this in case you ever do, or just to share with others as a reminder.  It can feel overwhelming to care about something when it feels like a losing battle.  But we aren't losing.  We're just learning to create the better future that we want to see every day, together.

We wouldn't do all this work if we thought the death of privacy was inevitable.

Of course, our success isn't inevitable either - it takes real work, and we hope you'll help us do that work by joining us.  Take action when you can.  Teach a friend who wants to learn more.

Become an EFF member to power us through the next big legal battle, activism campaign, or tech project.  Giving up is exactly what many government officials, law enforcement agencies, big tech companies, and other powerful people want.

Our movement is not a pessimistic one, even if the fight is difficult.  It's celebratory.

Don't let the privacy nihilists into your head, or your laptop - put a big EFF sticker there instead.