Picked a government surveillance theory over the corporate one in a debate with my buddy. He still thinks I'm wrong.

My friend Dave spent 30 minutes last weekend trying to convince me that Google and Facebook are the real problem with privacy, not the NSA. I told him I'd rather have a government agency bound by warrants than a corporation that sells my data to the highest bidder. He brought up that 2013 Snowden leak like it proved his point, but I pointed out how many times Amazon has listened to people through their Alexa devices without permission. I even showed him a screenshot from my own phone where a Target ad popped up for baby stuff right after I talked to my pregnant sister on speaker. Dave just shook his head and said I'm paranoid, but I feel like history backs me up here. Has anyone else had this argument and actually changed someone's mind?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica7076d agoMost Upvoted

Saw a study recently that said people trust the government's surveillance less because at least with corporations you get free stuff like Gmail and searches. Your mileage may vary but I'm with you on this one.

claire_davis316d ago

Yeah but at least Google gives me free storage while the NSA just gives me anxiety.

harper9142d ago

@claire_davis31 Same here. Switched to ProtonMail and never looked back. Worth the trade-off for peace of mind.