Privacy Matters: Why Your Digital Freedom Depends on It

We all live behind multiple masks: the version of ourselves at work, with friends, in our community, or at home. Privacy is what allows us to choose which mask to wear, and when.

There’s nothing inherently sneaky or nefarious about this. People can judge harshly, things can be taken out of context, and workplaces or communities often hold standards that could cost you your job.

Sometimes it’s simply nice to share a poem, a photograph, or a personal thought without worrying about rejection from “friends” or scrutiny from co-workers.

This ability to present different aspects of ourselves, to explore ideas, and to connect without fear of judgment or blowback is at the heart of privacy. It’s about having the freedom to be your full self, to navigate life’s various roles without every action being permanently linked, interpreted, or even weaponized against you.

When Privacy Becomes Personal

Privacy advocate Naomi Brockwell tells the story of a well-known economist and bestselling author who created a separate online account just for humor and off-the-cuff opinions. She didn’t want the account linked to her real name—not because she had anything illicit to hide, but because she valued the freedom to express herself without professional consequences. Privacy gave her room to be authentic without the constant weight of reputation management.

When Privacy Becomes Political

But the need for privacy extends far beyond professional discretion—it can become a matter of personal safety and civil liberties. In a recent case in Florida, the state issued a subpoena demanding records from a restaurant that hosted an LGBTQ+ Pride event. This action, which sought to disclose the identities of attendees, demonstrates how measures supposedly aimed at public safety can be twisted into tools for political retaliation or mass surveillance. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that such forced disclosures of peaceful organization members can have a “chilling effect” on free expression, discouraging people from participating in community events or expressing themselves freely.

Corporate Surveillance in Daily Life

The reach of data collection extends deep into our daily lives, influencing everything from our shopping experience to our insurance rates. For example, Kroger, one of the largest grocery chains in the U.S., partnered with Microsoft to implement digital shelving displays equipped with facial recognition technology. These systems can identify a customer’s gender and age, then present personalized advertisements and even adjust prices in real-time based on what artificial intelligence predicts a person is “willing to pay.” These digital displays can change prices instantly based on individual customer profiles—something impossible with traditional paper price tags. This capability highlights how corporations can “squeeze consumers to increase profits” by exploiting granular data about individual shoppers.

Another unsettling example involves health insurance companies, which are “vacuuming up” highly personal details about individuals from data brokers without public scrutiny. This collected data includes sensitive information like race, marital status, and even consumer purchasing habits (e.g., buying plus-size clothing or dog toys). This information can then be used to predict health costs or even justify raising insurance rates, often without the individual’s explicit consent or knowledge. Once this data is collected, individuals often have “absolutely zero control over how that data is going to be stored, shared, sold, aggregated, and potentially used”. Data brokers collect this information from various sources including public records, online activity, surveys, social media, and third-party companies.

Taking Back Control

These are just a few glimpses into a world where vast amounts of our personal information are tracked, cataloged, packaged, and sold by a “galaxy of unregulated data brokers”. This constant surveillance isn’t just about targeted ads; it’s about control and the power that information confers over human beings. Privacy is not about having “something to hide”; it is about the fundamental human right to control your own information and decide who gets access to your data, for what purpose, and for how long. In an age where digital data exploitation is rampant, understanding and protecting your privacy is more critical than ever, because the power of information should be in the right hands—yours.

Looking Ahead: Reclaiming Your Privacy – A Tiered Approach

Having explored the landscape of privacy threats, including the pervasive nature of surveillance capitalism and government data collection, our subsequent articles will shift focus to empowering you with actionable strategies to enhance your digital privacy. We’ll present these countermeasures in a progressive, tiered manner, allowing you to tailor your efforts to your individual “threat model”—understanding what you want to protect and from whom. Remember, privacy improvement is akin to developing good health habits: it’s a continuous, persistent process, not a one-time fix.

Level 1: Foundational Steps & “Low-Hanging Fruit”

Quick, high-impact changes anyone can implement with minimal disruption—like securing accounts with strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, adjusting browser and search settings for privacy, deleting unused accounts, and trimming overshared information from your digital footprint.

Level 2: Intermediate Strategies & Compartmentalization

More effort, more payoff. These techniques help separate parts of your online life—using email aliases, VoIP numbers, private payment methods, VPNs, and data removal services. At this stage you’ll also learn to scrub metadata from files before sharing them.

Level 3: Advanced & Extreme Protections

For people facing higher risks—journalists, activists, or those under targeted surveillance. This level covers privacy-focused operating systems, Tor for anonymity, careful identity rotation, and advocating for stronger laws to limit government and corporate overreach.

As you think about your own digital life, what masks do you want to keep separate—and who do you want to protect them from?

References

1. Brockwell, Naomi. “I Have Nothing to Hide – The Dangerous Myth About Privacy.” NBTV, December 13, 2024. https://www.nbtv.media/episodes/i-have-nothing-to-hide-the-dangerous-myth-about-privacy

2. Business Reform (YouTube channel). “Controligarchs on Privacy.” Circa July-August 2024.

3. Privacy Guides. “Why Privacy Matters.” Available at: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics/why-privacy-matters/

4. Associated Press. “Florida’s attorney general targets a restaurant over an LGBTQ Pride event.” July 22, 2025.

5. Electronic Frontier Foundation. “You Went to a Drag Show—Now the State of Florida Wants Your Name.” July 28, 2025.

6. Business Reform (YouTube channel). “Dynamic Pricing Based on What Kroger and Microsoft Know About You.” August 13, 2024.

7. Warren, Elizabeth and Bob Casey. Letter to Kroger regarding electronic shelving and price gouging. U.S. Senate, August 5, 2024.

8. Allen, Marshall. “Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates.” ProPublica, July 17, 2018.

9. Business Reform (YouTube channel). “Loyalty Cards Are A Dual Use Technology.” Circa July-August 2024.

10. Lorenz, Taylor. “Your Phone Isn’t Listening, Here’s What’s Actually Happening.” Taylor Lorenz (YouTube channel), Circa 2025.

11. Security.org. “What Is a Data Broker?” February 19, 2025.

12. Blueprint. “Data Broker Statistics and Trends.” October 4, 2024.

13. WebFX. “What Are Data Brokers and What’s Your Data Worth? [Infographic].” March 16, 2020.

14. Techlore (YouTube channel). “The ULTIMATE Windows Privacy & Security Guide!” April 15, 2022.