INTRO

The “nothing to hide” argument shows a lack of understanding of the importance of privacy and the consequences of abusing it.

This post is partially inspired by Snowden’s book “Permanent Record”, my own experiences as well as recent SEC actions against Binance and Coinbase

For 4 years I worked in a company that was processing massive amounts of records of personal data per second.

And it was considered a smaller player in the industry.

I know what it means to abuse privacy since my privacy was abused by an illicit party.

So hear me out when you think about CBDCs.

MEANING OF PRIVACY

When you act online, you leave a lot of information about yourself.

The same is when you transfer your money digitally.

This information is put in context.

In the right context, the one you know, the information is harmless.

However, abusing privacy is not just about revealing information about you that you are not afraid to reveal.

It can also be about revealing a fraction of information about you and putting it in the wrong context or context created specifically for your information to make it look bad.

This can be manipulative and may harm you.

Goal of any privacy violation is to manipulate individuals into behaving according to specific expectations

EDWARD SNOWEDN’s TAKE ON PRIVACY

As Edward Snowden said in his book:

He also famously pointed out that:

The fear of being watched all the time and that your actions can be shown in the wrong context can literally change your personality.

From extrovert to introvert.

It may change how you talk and act toward your friends and your closest associates.

You may not make a joke in a certain way to avoid being shown in the wrong context.

You may not support the cause important to you (e.g. freedom convoy in Canada) to avoid putting yourself or your friends in danger, as it may be seen as wrong in the wrong context.

CONCLUSION

Privacy is what makes us the real us.

The right to keep certain information about ourselves to ourselves allows us to be our true selves without fear that our true selves can be put in the wrong context by someone who has access to this information.

In conclusion, the argument "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" is not only wrong but also dangerous.

CBDC is not only a tool that will abuse your privacy by tracking every financial move you make, but it has “teeth” that may literally force you to change how you live and what you believe.

LET’s CONNECT

I'm Jack.

I am an ex-lawyer, and now I'm the founder of a web3 project.

I spent thousands of hours analyzing web3 projects, in particular in the #NFT space and building my own venture.

Now I am sharing my knowledge with the audience on LinkedIn and via my newsletter.

With over 80 articles already written on web3, #blockchain, #NFTs, and more, I'm excited to share my expertise with you every week.

Every Tuesday, I'll be publishing an article focusing on #web3 strategies to help you thrive in this ecosystem.

Additionally, every Thursday I'll be sharing my personal opinions on important web3 issues.

I would be thrilled if you subscribed to stay updated.

Feel free to reach out to me via DM!

I also created a Telegram group of like-minded people interested in media, nfts, blockchain law, content creation & business growth.

If you would like to join us to grow together, dm me and I send you the link.