> I didn’t say I wanted to take control of anything, or even use the information, I just want to know what the credentials are…

But giving you the credentials is giving you control? They're the same thing in this case! The fact that you're asking for them implies that you want to use them, does it not? Otherwise, why would you ask?

> The point is that everyone has information that they would rather not have distributed. To prove the point, you just have to find the right piece of information to ask for. There’s always something that people do, in fact, have to hide.

But they're saying they have nothing to hide because they haven't done anything illegal. The original statement was "I don't do anything illegal, hence I have nothing to hide". They're saying that someone looking through the history of the things they've said and done would find no evidence of wrongdoing.

If you asked for their banking records, that might be an appropriate thing to ask for in the pursuit of evidence of wrongdoing. But asking for the ability to control their finances isn't the same thing. The ability to control their finances has no relevance to any illegal behaviors they may or may not have partaken in. So you're not really finding the "right piece of information to ask for". Instead, you're cleverly moving the goalposts from "information relevant to the search for wrongdoing" to a much broader scope.

I don't think anyone who says "I have nothing to hide" believes that law enforcement should have access to your bank account to spend your money; but they're probably fine with some level of law enforcement having the ability to view their financial records under the right circumstances. Since they've committed no financial crimes, there will be nothing to see.

Of course you'll argue the hypothetical that "everyone has committed some crime" (which is probably true!), but plenty of people commit crimes accidentally and are let go with no punishment (or never even prosecuted) when it became clear that there was no intention of breaking the law. This obviously isn't true in call cases, because lack of criminal intent does not prevent damages, etc. However, the best way to prove that there was no criminal intent is by having more information about that person, to demonstrate that their previous actions are consistent with such a narrative.