IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

The Deviancy Signal: Having "Nothing to Hide" Is a Threat to Us All

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Rejection of "Nothing to Hide" as Naive and Harmful

Users widely criticize the mindset for creating a surveillance baseline and "Deviancy Signal," making privacy suspicious later.
"Their very attempt to become private is the most public and suspicious act they could possibly commit." - NickForLiberty
"To anyone who says 'I have nothing to hide' I respond with 'Unfortunately, you are not the one who gets to decide whether what you have is worth hiding.'" - codethief

2. Privacy Needed Against Regime Shifts and Data Misuse

Many highlight how stable societies can turn authoritarian, weaponizing past data (e.g., Nazis, censuses).
"Any country can turn to a dictatorship in three years. We just had a fine demostration." - atemerev
"Pre-WW2 census in Germany was conducted by IBM... Fast forward a few years and the Nazi regime used census results to go after every family..." - itopaloglu83

3. Collective Duty to Normalize Privacy

Privacy must be universal to protect everyone, drowning signals and shielding the vulnerable.
"We must create so much noise that a signal is impossible to find. Our collective goal must be to make a 'normal' profile so rare..." - NickForLiberty
"Your unshielded phone becomes the listening device they never consented to." - NickForLiberty

🚀 Project Ideas

Privacy Baseline Builder

Summary

  • A mobile/desktop app that automates setting up a "privacy from day one" profile: enables full-disk encryption, VPN, encrypted DNS, Signal defaults, and fake "normal" activity logs to blend in seamlessly.
  • Core value: Prevents the deviancy signal by making privacy the invisible default, creating universal noise without effort.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Everyday users wary of surveillance but overwhelmed by tools (e.g., HN readers tired of manual setup).
Core Feature One-click device scan and config wizard with simulated baseline activity (e.g., common searches, HTTPS everywhere).
Tech Stack Electron/React Native for cross-platform; WireGuard for VPN; system APIs for encryption setup.
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium ($5/mo premium noise profiles).

Notes

  • Addresses NickForLiberty's deviancy signal: "Their first attempt at privacy... is a screaming alarm"; makes everyone a "deviation" effortlessly.
  • HN would love the practicality; high utility for fraud prevention as in alan-crowe's meter story.

Normie Camouflage Browser

Summary

  • Browser extension/service mimicking "normie" behavior (e.g., Chrome fingerprint, casual searches) while routing all traffic through Tor/VPN and blocking trackers.
  • Core value: Lets privacy-conscious users appear as average transparent users, obliterating baselines without changing habits.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Tech-savvy users (e.g., globalnode: "using edge or chrome so i look like a normie").
Core Feature Fingerprint spoofing to match common profiles + automated plausible deniability traffic.
Tech Stack Chromium extension; FingerprintJS spoofing; Tor bridges + obfuscated proxies.
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: $2/mo subscription.

Notes

  • Quotes globalnode directly; counters "nothing to hide" by hiding in plain sight, as in "make privacy the default".
  • Sparks HN debates on opsec; practical for whistleblowers/escapees per ndsipa_pomu.

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