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It’s never quite clear how you’re meant to respond when someone insists that she, a Fine and Upstanding Member of the Community, doesn’t care if the government spies on her. “After all,” she tells you, repeatedly and without invitation, “I have nothing to hide.”

This Pillar of Goodness leaves you with two options, of course. You could ask her how she achieved a life of such admirable dullness; or, you could excuse yourself from the conversation, explaining politely that you are intimidated by her admirable dullness.

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But thanks to a recent study on mass surveillance, whether you walk away or pretend to listen, you’ll now have good reason to believe that her claim is as untrue as it is boring.

Maybe you always suspected as much, but it’s nice to have science on your side. Wayne State University’s Elizabeth Stoycheff found that, particularly if someone supports mass surveillance and knows that her social media posts can be intercepted by the government, she’ll be inclined to hide dissenting political opinions online. In other words, mass digital surveillance can chill free speech.