[pessimizer]

> Because for most people privacy on the internet isn't important.

This is untrue and the only place I see people claiming it's true (ironically) is here on HN. Privacy is intentionally made as difficult as possible when using anything where control could conceivably be centralized. These services are also made crucial through the elimination of others that are more privacy-respecting. In the case of the internet, this is inevitable because internet business don't have to make a profit, and they destroy the previous businesses that did.

I don't meet anyone who doesn't want privacy as the default. It's weird to even have to say that when Snapchat is winning among the generations that get most accused of being comfortable with this corporate and government-imposed lack of privacy.

[nl]

I don’t care particularly much about privacy.

This is a nuanced view where there are specific privacy features I care about in some circumstances. But I don't really care about the strong privacy against corporates or government that some do.

This view is informed by my migration from being strongly privacy focused in the 1990s and a subsequent careful analysis of actual harm.

Also I'd note that Snapchat is a great example of this. Privacy for things I care about but little from corporate advertising or governments.

[imiric]

> This is untrue

> I don't meet anyone who doesn't want privacy as the default.

We're both speaking from experience. You can't claim that my experience is untrue, just as I can't claim that yours is.

Most people I've spoken to--particularly outside of HN--in the baby boomer and generation X demographics, and even some millennials, have expressed what I said above. Practically speaking, almost anyone who is not technically savvy certainly wouldn't be concerned about protecting their online privacy, since the internet (or "Facebook") is just a tool they use to stay in touch and keep (mis)informed.

As more and more people come online their first exposure to the internet will be via these services. The failure of web developers has been not building privacy-focused tools from the beginning, and not educating people about what they're sacrificing by using "free" services. We can work on the latter, but the former will always be an uphill battle, as the momentum of adtech has taken over the web.

> Snapchat is winning among the generations that get most accused of being comfortable with this corporate and government-imposed lack of privacy

What makes you think Snapchat respects users' privacy? Snap is an opaque corporation, running a profitable ad-based business, like most tech giants.

I'd reckon that most Snapchat users don't use it because they think it's private, but because it has the content they're interested in. This is the same demographic obsessed with TikTok after all.