[seanmcgregor]

(let me take my Privly hat off and put on my Machine Learning Researcher hat) Facebook needs users far more than access to users' private communications. Their "like" button and the demographic data they collect is more valuable than crawling messages between users. Privly could slightly impact the efficiency of advertising, but it won't shut down advertising as a business model. AdBlock poses a bigger risk for that.

(Privly hat back on) Our biggest challenge to legitimacy is interfacing with the web in a way that is private and allows sites like Facebook to "news feed" something only if the user reading the news feed can read the content. This is why we need to work towards a standard where both Facebook et al and Privacy can coexist. There are many options in this area, with differing amounts of privacy, but it is ultimately up to the posting user to post and the host site to decide what to do with it.

[wmf]

But if something like Privly was "done right", wouldn't everything — friends, profiles, likes, etc. — be encrypted? I think anything that really provides privacy would be too parasitic to Facebook; that's why I prefer a "clean break" approach like Diaspora/Appleseed/OneSocialWeb. Time will tell, I guess.

[seanmcgregor]

(I am apparently posting too quickly)

It is up to the individual user on what level of privacy is enough for them.

I think this has great potential as a cross posting mechanism. I can't switch to Diaspora because of network effects. How do I leave my family at Facebook? With Privly I could cross post very personal content, but not give the content to anyone outside the family.

[mcartyem]

Odds are it is market forces that will set such a standard. So if AdBlock is stronger in moving the market, then AdBlock is a better avenue towards a privacy standard.

There may be a peculiar outcome though. If AdBlock manages to decrease demand, will that increase the cost of advertising or increase its effectiveness? Those not adblocking would be the ones easily sold.

Advertising profits not dropping could be enough of an illusion so that, with enough adblocking, one could try a Groupon in reverse.

@wmf: one business model would be users paying for privacy themselves.