There's a ton of far right wing privacy advocates. For me personally, a social libertarian / anarcho communist, it seems like theyre drawing the same conclusions about privacy advocacy and open source from a completely different set of premises. For me, I view privacy as a right that's been eroded ever since the advent of the concept of total war, to the point now that capitalists engage in surveillance espionage casually to sell collected data not even to the highest bidder, but instead at commodity prices. What's the inflection point of supply and demand, basically
Meanwhile a lot of people on the right wing don't view open source as a great equalizer, benefiting all of society, but rather as a tool for themselves for personal benefit. I honestly never fully find myself understanding their premises to be honest. But I've for sure seen antisemitism and racism arguments bandied about, which is a Y I K E S.
As far as public perception goes, I don't really know what to say there. Yeah, I guess, it is indeed frustrating to have your average John or Jane assuming anyone using an encrypted messenger is probably a terrorist. I don't think the solution is give up, but instead explain your stance and premises