How to discuss internet privacy with a family member without coming across as a weirdo/criminal?

[Gunty King]

Hopefully this is the right subforum to post this in, I thought about using General discussion but this one is called Q&A so hopefully it works.

The other day I was talking with my mom and she asked me why I didn't have a Facebook account to make it easier for us to stay in touch.
I told her that if she needs to get ahold of me she can just text or call me, but she kept pushing the topic saying how much easier it is to use Facebook.
I wrote a essay about how evil Facebook and Zuck are back in college so I listed off some of the things (Zuckerberg calling his users "dumb fucks" for trusting him with their personal data, or how Zuckerberg doesn't let his own children use Facebook, as well as my general distaste for social media and it's addictiveness) but that still wasn't enough to sway her.

So I brought up the fact that I didn't want social media companies, advertisers, and governments spying on me through things like Facebook and her attitude completely shifted.
She started questioning why I would need to cover my internet footprint, and said that I "Shouldn't have anything to hide," and basically started implying that the only reason to keep yourself anonymous online would be to commit a crime.
My mom's pretty conservative so I started talking about how saying something totally normal right now could become a crime or get you cancelled in the future, and that I didn't want my internet activity tied back to my real name.
I also compared it to real life and how you shouldn't talk to police without a lawyer or let them search your house without a warrant, even if you're completely innocent, but she said that she'd gladly tell police anything they want to know and let them search her house.
We ultimately ended the conversation on a "Agree to disagree" note, but if she brings it up again I don't know what to tell her.

It's so strange that she doesn't get the concept of online privacy or even privacy in general.
My mom introduced me to the internet at a young age, however she drilled into me that I should never use my real name or post my face and address to the internet, and for years I accepted these things as gospel that everyone should abide by.
I get that part of that was her not wanting me to give away my personal info to some pedophile, but even in my mid teens she was staunchly against me getting a Facebook account or giving out personal information online, and prior to 2016 or so both her and my dad only used usernames online.
How do I explain how important internet privacy is without coming across as a weirdo criminal terrorist?
Is there any reason to want internet privacy if you are a normie?

 

[King Fructose]

When convincing somebody, it’s best to tailor your response to the beliefs or even fears of your audience.

Tell her that Facebook, and the other major social networks, are chock full of diversity hires with unrestricted access to your data.

 

[NekoRightsActivist]

say you are a furry otherkin, it would be less harmful and more acceptable than say you have a kiwifarms account or being an alt-rightoid.

 

[Flatline]

Your mom is trapped in the convenience of using Facebook. If that's her main form of communication with friends and family, there's no saving her.

The best thing you can do is make sure the accounts she's using are secured.

Get her to use a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden and update all her passwords to something strong.

 

[DumbDude42]

Is there any reason to want internet privacy if you are a normie?

identity theft

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

I recently had the same issue.

Last month I took a course with my state to add fluff to my resume. During the course, the instructor made several remarks which concerned me:

- when explaining what a typical computer looked like, he gestured at a desktop computer saying "nobody uses these anymore" and then stated "you're all likely on a laptop or phone, right?"

- instead of using free and open source office alternatives like LibreOffice and Open Office, the instructor had us make Google accounts to use the "free and easy to use Google Workspace (google drive, docs, slides, sheets, etc) because Microsoft Office is expensive" and apparently "there are no other alternatives".

- a part of the course involved talking about social media and the impact it has had on our lives and to provide an example from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I don't have an account from any of those, not even for Reddit and have used 4chan. I simply sat it out

- the instructor told me to put my address, phone number, and email on my resume and to publicly display it on Indeed and LinkedIn to "look more professional"

I fucking hate normies.

Even if you're not a criminal, having privacy should be a human right. Having control of your data, your private information, should be a human right. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, etc all these motherfuckers do not deserve to profit off of me without my consent.

As an aside, most women looking into privacy and FOSS are domestic abuse victims rather than your average sperg like me who just doesn't want people looking at my browsing history and posts.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Get her to use a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden and update all her passwords to something strong.

That's one way to remove the Faceboob brainworm. Just lock her out with boomerproofing.

 

[XYZpdq]

beats me
only time it ever came up irl was some family friends from Sri Lanka who needed to know about online anonymity because of some tiger thing
eventually I found out what that was about and was mildly concerned about what I'd done
since then I figure I'll just be "I can make a bunk email, does that count" and play stupid-ish

 

[Meat Target]

Tell her that Zucc now knows her better than she knows herself, and is pimping out all her personal information to advertisers.

When you don't pay for the product, you ARE the product.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

The only reason to care about Internet privacy is dangerous lunatics, just don't give your address out or anything that can lead to it. Otherwise just don't do illegal shit.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Tell her that Zucc now knows her better than she knows herself, and is pimping out all her personal information to advertisers.

That could be a selling point for severely lonely people.

 

[Gunty King]

Tell her that Zucc now knows her better than she knows herself, and is pimping out all her personal information to advertisers.

When you don't pay for the product, you ARE the product.

Brought that up almost word for word, not only did she say she doesn't care, but she said she likes having her interests catered to her.

When convincing somebody, it’s best to tailor your response to the beliefs or even fears of your audience.

Tell her that Facebook, and the other major social networks, are chock full of diversity hires with unrestricted access to your data.

I doubt that would work. I'd basically telling her that she shouldn't like the company because they have non-whites working there, which not only outs me as being racist, but also implies that I think she's racist as well.
Besides, she's just some random old lady on Facebook, what's a Facebook employee going to do with her data anyway?
Really I don't even care if she's using Facebook, I just don't want her trying to get me to use it.
I brought up a similar point about how Zuckerberg and the people who work at Facebook are left-wing and biased, but she countered by pointing out that Facebook actually censors conservatives way less than other social media platforms, particularly Twitter.
I'm not 100% certain if that's true, but it sounded accurate based on what I know about Facebook and Twitter.

 

[Amphotericin B]

Normies don’t understand what exactly doxing entails, but they’re usually afraid of it. Even people who put all of their info on FB are because they’re told doxing is scary.

With family, I approach OPSEC as a way to help prevent being doxed. Most won’t give up Google/FB/IG but they’re usually receptive to at least making their accounts private. I emphasize basics like different usernames for each platform as a doxing prevention measure too.

Like you said, you can’t approach family cybersecurity like it’s for people with something to hide. Approach it like a preventative safety measure, like defensive driving.

 

[PipTheAlchemist]

I recently had the same issue.

Last month I took a course with my state to add fluff to my resume. During the course, the instructor made several remarks which concerned me:

- when explaining what a typical computer looked like, he gestured at a desktop computer saying "nobody uses these anymore" and then stated "you're all likely on a laptop or phone, right?"

- instead of using free and open source office alternatives like LibreOffice and Open Office, the instructor had us make Google accounts to use the "free and easy to use Google Workspace (google drive, docs, slides, sheets, etc) because Microsoft Office is expensive" and apparently "there are no other alternatives".

- a part of the course involved talking about social media and the impact it has had on our lives and to provide an example from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I don't have an account from any of those, not even for Reddit and have used 4chan. I simply sat it out

- the instructor told me to put my address, phone number, and email on my resume and to publicly display it on Indeed and LinkedIn to "look more professional"

I fucking hate normies.

Even if you're not a criminal, having privacy should be a human right. Having control of your data, your private information, should be a human right. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, etc all these motherfuckers do not deserve to profit off of me without my consent.

As an aside, most women looking into privacy and FOSS are domestic abuse victims rather than your average sperg like me who just doesn't want people looking at my browsing history and posts.

All this bullshit came about when the zoomer generation started using the internet and with the rise of social medias such as Facebook and Twitter. I still remember a time where the common wisdom when it came to the internet was "never reveal your personal information to anyone online", and I thought it worked just fine

The first instance of the modern anti-privacy internet attitude I vividly remember was when Facebook was opened-up to non-university emails. My family wanted me to make a Facebook, so we could all contact eachother and shit, but I was always suspicious as fuck about Facebook. I just hated the way the website encouraged people to use their real names and generally just post all their personal information on their profile, for everyone to see. If Facebook never became as popular as it is now, it wouldn't have been as big of an issue, imo. Sadly, people ate the fuck up out of Facebook, and in the process stopped caring about their online privacy and digital footprint

The kind of advice that zoomers are given about how to use the internet nowadays freaks the shit out of me. They're encouraged to give-out their real name and other personal details on their various social medias. Supposedly so that employers could look them up on Facebook or Twitter or whatever, to see if they're trustworthy as a worker. Leading to many zoomers to not only have all their personal details out in the open, for anyone to find and take-advantage of in any way, but also some to never party, drink alcohol, take drugs, or do anything fun in their lives and just be total squares. Shit's borderline dystopian

Normies used to be all-for internet privacy, and that was great. But then the fucking autistic robot lizardman Mark Cuckerberg decided to mindfuck the general public with Facebook, and now no-one gives a shit anymore