[chaosmachine]

I imagine some people, having seen spyware popups one too many times, just thought they were infected again.

"You're in Toronto, your IP is 99.12.34.56, your ISP is Rogers, you're using Windows XP! Thieves can steal your info! Download our antivirus now!"

[gloshuertos]

This is exactly what I thought when I saw the same people still online -- which brought about the second round of messages. I hoped my frankness and lack of any links would make the message seem more sincere, but perhaps at this I failed.

[charltones]

I think if I was unaware of the technology behind this then even if you had come up to me and patiently explained it I would probably not have changed my behaviour. Until it is explained in the mainstream press or until a wide scale "fuss" is made then I suspect most people would do the same. My guess would be that anyone who is told there is a problem and they can fix it by subscribing to a VPN service would assume they were being scammed.

I think your average internet user would feel this was primarily Facebook's (and other sites) problem to fix first. A distant second might be that there was a problem with their browser. It would barely register that they should change their behaviour or pay for a service they've not heard of before.

[koski]

Maybe you could have told them what they were wearing and what they were drinking. Could have been a bit too much maybe.

[gloshuertos]

I may have spent 2 hours in a Starbucks to do this, but I do actually have a life. Sometimes. So yeah, a bit much. Also: follow-you-home creepy instead of just creepy.

[Estragon]

Either that or they are following the very sensible policy of never typing something into a social website which they wouldn't want to be public. (A policy I do violate myself from time to time.)