On the other hand, some people value privacy for different reasons. Some people value privacy for its own sake since they are not seeking, nor do they desire, attention. Others are uncomfortable with intrusions upon their life, not because of others explicitly exerting power over them but because it interferes with their sense of autonomy.
Here's a simple and observable human trait: knowing you're being watched changes your behavior. How you behave in private is different to how you behave when you know someone might be watching.
Our access to privacy is normative of our patterns of thought and way of seeing the world. The lack of privacy might not seem important in individual cases but the cumulative effect is a weakening of our ability to think without boundaries.
Reducing the possible scope of discussion around this issue to one of political/economic control I think fails to see a whole set of other important aspects here. Of course power and control are important issues too - just not the only issues. Privacy has always been an aspect of human societies - loosing it has the potential to change more than just our political and economic lives.
They'll most likely think you're exaggerating and maybe a little bit of a conspiracy theorist. Most people really do trust the government to act in good faith, even if you see them badmouthing various politicians.
The issue with privacy, and the reason it has such an image problem, is that society can be split up into 3 groups:
* People who believe authority figures are fundamentally acting in good faith (large majority).
* People who believe authority figures are acting in bad faith (substantial minority)
* People who want to deploy authority to make others do what they want.
Group 3 want privacy to have an image problem, and they are persistent in their attacks.
Privacy is a tool for the second group to convince the first to coordinate with them. The first group won't accept arguments that authority figures might potentially act in bad faith. Therefore, the argument must be made that people have fundamental rights to privacy that a good faith authority figure will not want to infringe.
It is a matter of taste what people want to believe the % breakdown of society is into those 3 groups, but try going in to a discussion arguing that authorities might in the future act in bad faith. It is remarkably difficult to carry a debate with that frame despite substantial evidence.