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by izacus
1517 days ago
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> Because for most people privacy on the internet isn't important. They either don't care it's being abused ("I've got nothing to hide"), or are OK with paying the price of giving it away in exchange for the services they get, and think are entitled to, for free. The fact that "privacy" doesn't mean the same thing for all people isn't helping. Privacy fundamentalist use the same rhetoric and fundamentalism as Stallman does, where they use a definition of "privacy" which is disconnected from what most people are worried about when talking about "privacy". Counting clicks on a button in an app (privacy fundamentalists: "spying") is far from concerning for most people while uploading their private messages, leaking their private pictures or having their coworkers read their messages is concerning. For an example of that, consider that in another comment thread on HN, the networkers were vehemently defending their right to reading anything and everything on "their" networks while still demanding privacy from their phones. And as long as the definition of "privacy" is abused to harvest clicks and outrage, meaningful progress can't be made. |
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People aren't concerned about "clicks on a button" because they don't know what that means. It's never just "clicks". That's the problem with privacy. Everyone understands why it's bad when their coworkers can read their private messages, but nobody knows that because of the data they've given up but "don't care about" they got turned down from the last job or apartment they applied for, they're paying more for the exact same items than their neighbor while shopping online, companies are telling them their polices are one thing while others are getting better terms, they wait longer on hold when they call for tech support, or that it's why their health insurance bill went up again.
If people saw all the ways the data they gave up was being used to exploit them at every opportunity they'd care a whole lot more about what "privacy fundamentalists" consider spying, but unless the consequences are immediate and right in their faces they can continue to be manipulated without being aware.