How much privacy can I really have when I'm being ratted out by my friends?
Privacy Guides Community [Unofficial]
April 17, 2026
A friend of mine who I play sports with recently told me that they chose our team line up using ChatGPT. I asked them if they told ChatGPT about the play style, strengths and weaknesses of each player and they said yes. Basically, they just gave AI a bunch of information about us. Although the information was probably subjective and not highly sensitive, I am still uncomfortable with AI and surveillance capitalist companies having this data about me.
I realized that many people that I know may be talking to AI about me without my knowledge. I have almost no way of knowing what AI has been told about me or by whom. I’m unsure what I can do about it, if anything.
I feel uncomfortable asking people who I’m not very close with not to mention me to AI. My close friends and family know my views on privacy, but many looser acquaintances don’t. I don’t feel comfortable saying “Hi, I’m Bob (not my name). Nice to meet you. Please don’t take pictures or videos of me, mention me on social media or talk to AI about me.” Unfortunately, data privacy is not well understood by most people and it is not a social norm.
I’m coming to the belief that interacting with people who are not privacy conscious has become a privacy risk. I also think that going to public places where there are cameras, which is most urban public places, is also a privacy risk. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to acquire and use technology that protects my privacy, but I feel like the only things that I’ve managed to keep private are things that I do online and don’t tell other people who aren’t privacy conscious about (e.g. this post). I don’t want to live like a hermit, so I’m stuck with exposing a lot of my information to surveillance capitalist companies despite being relatively tech savvy and putting a lot of effort into hiding my data.
I’ve had many conversations with other tech savvy people about privacy. I’ve convinced most of them that surveillance capitalism is a very bad thing, but almost none of them are willing to take any steps to preserve their own privacy or the privacy of those around them. I think that the reason is that it takes a large amount of knowledge and effort, some personal sacrifice to stop using many popular services, and sometimes money to buy new tech, yet even with these steps there’s still so much data out there about us. I think that what makes me different from them is that I’m stubborn and don’t want to give up on privacy without trying.
Sorry if I’m ranting. To some degree I’m just venting because I’m feeling powerless. Still, I welcome any comments, feedback and suggestions.
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