I think regime change should've been pretty high up on the list for everyone already. The Soviet Union lasted for less time than the lifespan of people in developed countries. Around half the countries in Europe have only existed in their current form for a few decades.

It shouldn't at all be something unexpected.

I'd suggested this to Google some years back.

Entirely by coincidence, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170604101018/https://plus.goog...

> Add "regime change" to the list of things you might have to worry about, even if you "have nothing to hide".

I think you don't need regime change to make something like that critical. Companies aren't institutions, they're organizations staffed by people and they have turnover. A company as it exists today is not the same as that company 5 years which wasn't the same as the company 10 years ago etc.

The decisions a company will make with data you provide them now may well change in the future - when their leadership changes, when the board changes, when the managers change, etc etc.

On top of that, companies are bought and sold. Blizzard was my favorite game developer but after a but of time under activision they don't seem to resemble the blizzard I remember when I enjoyed their products.

And police can get judges to sign subpoenas for data even if the company doesn't want to share it - if you sent dna to 23andme it's definitely something the police can use, for example, with enough justification.

Regime change is probably completely unnecessary to use your data against you, or in ways you never anticipated it being used.

I was hoping that "add to your list" implied that 1) the list had additional items on it and 2) whatever finite set the list contains, it's incommplete.

Yes: the context in which data will exist in the future is not the same as the context in which the data were initially provided or created.

Hell, even the context in which data are accessed or provided virtually always exceeds the data subject's awareness or understanding, and would not be considered acceptable.

Data is forever. Privacy laws can change. Companies can break their privacy policies in bankruptcy. Even democracy is not guaranteed.

..but you got nothing to hide. right, citizen?

Also, add "erase digital footprint" and "obfuscate biometric identifiers" to attack on human rights checklist - try not to worry about how feasible the tasks are.

Unfortunately nobody will allow you on a plane without a valid matching biometric ID passport. And you can bet there would be state security there.

You'd need a forgery from one of the few remaining countries that don't do that, or smuggle yourself out in another way.

There is something called UN Refugee Travel document, looks like a passport, but not quite. Many aren’t biometric, some are.

Any embassy in Afghanistan could issue those.

I censor myself on Wechat as well as to avoid getting detained at the border in China

I’m American and have no Chinese heritage

Lots of cool stuff over there though, and industries for now

No reason to lose social standing over there, and this has no effect on my social standing over here, just inconsequential internet points