Nothing to hide? You are boring!
Talking to my friends and random strangers about privacy problems like data collections and data mining, I often have to deal with the 'good guy have nothing to hide.' argument.
Here is my list of answers, add yours in the comments
You are boring!
Everybody makes mistakes, behaves like an idiot, breaks or bends the rules of his community from time to time. In case you never do, you are incredibly boring. I do not want all my stupidity saved on tape for future amusement.
Everything you say or do can and will be used against you (even if it takes some time)
Do you want your insurance company to know that you buy alcohol regularly, smoke two packs of cigarettes each day and ate lots of raw British beef in the 90ies? That your father died of cancer, your mother has diabetes and your girlfriend wants a child? None of this is illegal, but private. I am sure you want it to stay that way.
Really want it? Really need it? Have enough money?
So your car is broken, you commute each day and you hate public transportation? Good to know that you have 8,435$ in the bank, because that is the price the car dealer will quote you. It is called price discrimination, one of the oldest retail strategies. Less privacy will mean price discrimination on steroids, where everyone will charge you the maximum price you would be willing to pay.
Perhaps somebody else has to hide something
Think about journalists. Do you want their sources to be afraid of contacting them? You probably want that conversations between you and your lawyer are confidential. What about politics? Do you want members of the opposition under surveillance?
In the end, you are just consumer ID#3370318/2716057.
You buy only unhealthy stuff in the store because you mostly eat home-grown organic food. You want health insurance? Today, you might be able to talk to someone who will get to know you and evaluate your risks. With unlimited data mining, that decision will be made by an algorithm. The insurance company is aware that there is a possibility that you are in fact a vegetarian, although your credit card shows other shopping habits. They also know that this is not very likely. In the end they do not take the risk.
data mining nothing to hide privacy
