1269: Privacy Opinions - Revision history

FaviFake: good point

2026-04-17T19:34:00Z

good point

81.179.199.253: Undo revision 410294 by FaviFake (talk) Do, or don't do. It's an interesting similarity, but if you've checked it out and aren't sure what to say about it, maybe only Talk comment itself is needed?

2026-04-14T21:16:37Z

Undo revision 410294 by FaviFake (talk) Do, or don't do. It's an interesting similarity, but if you've checked it out and aren't sure what to say about it, maybe only Talk comment itself is needed?

FaviFake: /* Explanation */

2026-04-14T17:17:40Z

‎Explanation

FaviFake: /* Explanation */

2025-07-24T14:04:58Z

‎Explanation

Maplestrip: /* Explanation */ Trimming and editing my previous addition.

2024-01-10T13:12:29Z

‎Explanation: Trimming and editing my previous addition.

Maplestrip: /* Explanation */ Describing some valid reason for privacy concerns, lest readers walk away thinking privacy is pointless.

2024-01-05T10:23:13Z

‎Explanation: Describing some valid reason for privacy concerns, lest readers walk away thinking privacy is pointless.

Maplestrip: /* Explanation */ A more detailed laydown on the four negatively-tagged perspectives. In particular, I don't think "a life so boring it's not worth hiding" is at all how one should think about privacy.

2024-01-05T10:06:42Z

‎Explanation: A more detailed laydown on the four negatively-tagged perspectives. In particular, I don't think "a life so boring it's not worth hiding" is at all how one should think about privacy.

162.158.186.71: /* Transcript */

2023-10-20T22:47:40Z

‎Transcript

162.158.186.71: /* Transcript */ google

2023-10-20T22:45:51Z

‎Transcript: google

JLZ0kTC5 at 04:42, 3 November 2022

2022-11-03T04:42:32Z

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
 This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six common positions are comedically presented, while serious privacy concerns are omitted. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative connotations in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels. The Crypto Nut is presented as having nothing meaningfully worth protecting, the Conspiracist's concerns are ridiculous and irrelevant, the Nihilist's position may come across as self-deprecating, and the Exhibitionist is presented as sexually perverse.
@@ Line 74: / Line 73: @@
 ::[Beret Guy and Cueball sitting at a table. Beret Guy is holding a burrito.]
 ::Beret Guy: I don't know or care what data ''anyone'' has about me. Data is imaginary. This burrito is real.
 {{comic discussion}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:16, 14 April 2026
Line 8:		Line 8:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|Should we add this? from talk page:~~

−	I just noticed that A Softer World 987, posted about a month before this comic, says thet they have no idea what the "metadata" someone spies on is, and the title text of that comic says that they will "put anything in their mouth that is given to them". This comic could be referencing that A Softer World comic? 17:20, Apr 13 2026 (UTC)}}
	This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six common positions are comedically presented, while serious privacy concerns are omitted. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative connotations in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels. The Crypto Nut is presented as having nothing meaningfully worth protecting, the Conspiracist's concerns are ridiculous and irrelevant, the Nihilist's position may come across as self-deprecating, and the Exhibitionist is presented as sexually perverse.		This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six common positions are comedically presented, while serious privacy concerns are omitted. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative connotations in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels. The Crypto Nut is presented as having nothing meaningfully worth protecting, the Conspiracist's concerns are ridiculous and irrelevant, the Nihilist's position may come across as self-deprecating, and the Exhibitionist is presented as sexually perverse.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:17, 14 April 2026
Line 8:		Line 8:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
		+	{{incomplete\|Should we add this? from talk page:

		+	I just noticed that A Softer World 987, posted about a month before this comic, says thet they have no idea what the "metadata" someone spies on is, and the title text of that comic says that they will "put anything in their mouth that is given to them". This comic could be referencing that A Softer World comic? 17:20, Apr 13 2026 (UTC)}}
	This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six common positions are comedically presented, while serious privacy concerns are omitted. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative connotations in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels. The Crypto Nut is presented as having nothing meaningfully worth protecting, the Conspiracist's concerns are ridiculous and irrelevant, the Nihilist's position may come across as self-deprecating, and the Exhibitionist is presented as sexually perverse.		This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six common positions are comedically presented, while serious privacy concerns are omitted. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative connotations in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels. The Crypto Nut is presented as having nothing meaningfully worth protecting, the Conspiracist's concerns are ridiculous and irrelevant, the Nihilist's position may come across as self-deprecating, and the Exhibitionist is presented as sexually perverse.

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 *The {{w|Philosopher}} - the intellectual who likes to talk about the topic, often boring those around him who don't think or worry much about privacy.
 *The {{w|Cryptography|Crypto Nut}} - the one who goes crazy with security, even for things needing none.
 :Since a large percentage of people and companies present in the internet don't have the ability or intention to do strong cryptography, the crypto nut's communication is limited to talking with other crypto nuts - which indicates cryptography as a topic. A real crypto nut will encrypt not just the important stuff because otherwise the attacker (in this context, assumed to be a government agency, network operator or corporation) will know which mails contain stuff that was secret enough to warrant encrypting, thus giving them information about whom he's doing secret business with.
 *The {{w|Conspiracist}} - the one who sees super-secret data-gathering agencies everywhere.
 :The (data) warehouse mentioned is the {{w|Utah Data Center}} which seems to be of impressive size. The punchline is created by taking the iceberg and warehouse analogies literally.
 *The {{w|Nihilism|Nihilist}} - Nihilists believe that life lacks purpose and meaning. Someone who espouses this philosophy would think that a life spent spying someone else's meaningless life is hence doubly lacking in meaning.
 *The {{w|Exhibitionist}} - Assumes people are invading his privacy, and using it to show off.
 :This type is predominantly associated with twitter, but other social networks as well. This archetype is humorously combined with a ''sexual'' exhibitionist, who gets a sexual rise from the knowledge that others are spying on them.
 :The awkwardness of the spying officials is magnified by the fact that they appear to be of opposite sexes, increasing the discomfort of the seated male.
 *The {{w|Wisdom|Sage}} - Seems to know the difference between the real and the imaginary - or does he?
 :The monologue alludes to a scene in {{w|The Matrix}} in which Cypher arranges with the evil machines to become a traitor.

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 The release of the comic on this date could be to coincide with the premiere of {{w|South Park}}'s 17th season on the same date, which starts with an episode ({{w|Let Go, Let Gov}}) in which Cartman discovers that the NSA has been spying on him.
-Reasons to care about privacy may not apply directly and currently to the characters in the comic. Demographics that may be targeted by state violence (like sexual minorities under Nazi Germany) have valid privacy concerns, as do political opponents of a state (like communists during McCarthyism). The Exhibitionist presents a comedic inverse of a reasonable privacy concern: that people you don't know are getting off from secretly watching you. Celebrities are likely targets for this behavior, and anyone could suddenly be launched into fame.
+Reasons to care about privacy may not apply directly and currently to the characters in the comic. Demographics that may be targeted by state violence (like sexual minorities under Nazi Germany) have valid privacy concerns, as do political opponents of a state (like communists during McCarthyism). The Exhibitionist presents a comedic inverse of another reasonable privacy concern: that people you don't know (voyeurs) are getting off from secretly watching you.
 The title text is to suggest that he enjoys burritos so much that being handed one even while philosophizing (his natural state) would stop him in his tracks to eat the burrito, thus becoming a ''pseudo-sage'' concerned only with the burrito at the exclusion of the topic of internet security. The burrito is later mentioned as a way to stay connected to the real word (compared to the world of art) in [[1496: Art Project]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:23, 5 January 2024
Line 43:		Line 43:

	The release of the comic on this date could be to coincide with the premiere of {{w\|South Park}}'s 17th season on the same date, which starts with an episode ({{w\|Let Go, Let Gov}}) in which Cartman discovers that the NSA has been spying on him.		The release of the comic on this date could be to coincide with the premiere of {{w\|South Park}}'s 17th season on the same date, which starts with an episode ({{w\|Let Go, Let Gov}}) in which Cartman discovers that the NSA has been spying on him.
		+
		+	Reasons to care about privacy may not apply directly and currently to the characters in the comic. Demographics that may be targeted by state violence (like sexual minorities under Nazi Germany) have valid privacy concerns, as do political opponents of a state (like communists during McCarthyism). The Exhibitionist presents a comedic inverse of a reasonable privacy concern: that people you don't know are getting off from secretly watching you. Celebrities are likely targets for this behavior, and anyone could suddenly be launched into fame.

	The title text is to suggest that he enjoys burritos so much that being handed one even while philosophizing (his natural state) would stop him in his tracks to eat the burrito, thus becoming a ''pseudo-sage'' concerned only with the burrito at the exclusion of the topic of internet security. The burrito is later mentioned as a way to stay connected to the real word (compared to the world of art) in [[1496: Art Project]].		The title text is to suggest that he enjoys burritos so much that being handed one even while philosophizing (his natural state) would stop him in his tracks to eat the burrito, thus becoming a ''pseudo-sage'' concerned only with the burrito at the exclusion of the topic of internet security. The burrito is later mentioned as a way to stay connected to the real word (compared to the world of art) in [[1496: Art Project]].

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six positions are offered as options. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative meanings in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels, as those characters are depicted either as having such boring lives that they have no need for privacy (the Crypto Nut, the Nihilist), or as being crazy (the Conspiracist, the Exhibitionist).
+This comic is about opinions on internet privacy in general. Six common positions are comedically presented, while serious privacy concerns are omitted. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by [[Randall]] by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative connotations in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels. The Crypto Nut is presented as having nothing meaningfully worth protecting, the Conspiracist's concerns are ridiculous and irrelevant, the Nihilist's position may come across as self-deprecating, and the Exhibitionist is presented as sexually perverse.
 A fifth position, the Philosopher, is tagged somewhat ambivalently by Randall: Megan, or possibly a look-alike, is depicted as boring her interlocutor, yet in the title text, Randall admits that he is usually the Philosopher. Also, “Philosopher” in vernacular English is neutrally valenced, potentially having the ability to expound either wisdom ("sophia") or {{w|Sophist#Modern_usage|sophistry}}. It is also a synonym for Sage, the sixth position. As Randall condones his own movement from Philosopher to Sage, he thus indicates that the Philosopher is to be viewed negatively, even if it is a tempting position to hold.

@@ Line 73: / Line 73: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
 [[Category:Cryptography]]
 [[Category:Philosophy]]
-[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
+[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
 [[Category:Internet]]
 [[Category:Computers]]
 [[Category:Google]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:45, 20 October 2023
Line 78:		Line 78:
	[[Category:Internet]]		[[Category:Internet]]
	[[Category:Computers]]		[[Category:Computers]]
		+	[[Category:Google]]

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 :'''Opinions on Internet Privacy'''
 :The Philosopher:
-::Megan: "Privacy" is an impractical way to think about data in a digital world so unlike the one in which our soci--
+::Megan: "Privacy" is an impractical way to think about data in a digital world so unlike the one in which our soci-
 ::Ponytail: ''' ''So bored.'' '''
 :The Crypto Nut: