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I'm with you. Again and again we see how certain conclusions and opinions expressed on this site presuppose a global knowledge about the preferences of other pe

I'm with you. Again and again we see how certain conclusions and opinions expressed on this site presuppose a global knowledge about the preferences of other people. Regulators, planners and collectivists assume that what is bad for them must be bad for others, that what is good for them must be good for everyone and therefore "have" the right to force people to act as they think they should act according to their arbitrary criteria. If "society" requires services with a greater emphasis on privacy, they will be more in demand and will find their corresponding offer in the marketplace. >Why we can't have privacy on the internet... Bullshit. We can have whatever we want, but if I demand something I must offer something in return, be it money, private data or unicorns. There is no such thing as a free coffee.

FridgeSeal 7y ago
> they will be more in demand and will find their corresponding offer in the marketplace. Ah yes, the classic refrain of “the free market will just fix everything” despite that, you know, not being the case time-and-time-again. A huge number of products and services these days are “supply driven demand”, so consumers voting with your wallet is extremely limited in scope and power: you’re not being given a representative set of available options, you’re being given the choice between a few-often superficially different- options that companies are happy to provide. Coupled with the fact that many companies and the advertising industry as a whole has pushed a narrative of “just give up all your data, it’s fiiiinnne” means consumers aren’t informed or aware of all the options they could demand. Add in the fact that a huge number of people simply don’t have the luxury of shopping around for their preferred product at every opportunity.
- black_bird 7y ago
  > "the free market will just fix everything" I think the market doesn't fix anything because there's nothing to fix in this case. > you're not being given a representative set of available options... What would those options be? Who decides that? For me the market does, who should do it for you? What I'm saying is simple, if there are more people who demand services that respect their privacy, then the offer of those services will arise. If, for example, we are in an abstemious society no one will demand wine, then it is foolish to try to produce wine under those circumstances. It will only be profitable to produce wine there if the preferences of that society change. >"just give up all your data, it's fiiiinnne" I don't know. It may or may not be fine, you decide for you and I decide for me. I'm not going to force you to make a decision you don't want and I hope you do the same. Anyway, it's silly to say that we can't have privacy on the Internet. My position is that we can have the services we want, privacy, security, with whatever preponderant factor we want to have, but not for free. You will pay with money, with personal data or whatever the other party accepts as payment, but you will always pay. All this discussion takes place only in contexts where there are people who think they can access all kinds of things for "free", who have the right to dispose of someone else's work, capital, time or property as they please. Whether we like it or not, the market currently tells us that, in general, access to certain services is more valuable than consumer privacy.

FridgeSeal 7y ago

> they will be more in demand and will find their corresponding offer in the marketplace. Ah yes, the classic refrain of “the free market will just fix everything” despite that, you know, not being the case time-and-time-again. A huge number of products and services these days are “supply driven demand”, so consumers voting with your wallet is extremely limited in scope and power: you’re not being given a representative set of available options, you’re being given the choice between a few-often superficially different- options that companies are happy to provide. Coupled with the fact that many companies and the advertising industry as a whole has pushed a narrative of “just give up all your data, it’s fiiiinnne” means consumers aren’t informed or aware of all the options they could demand. Add in the fact that a huge number of people simply don’t have the luxury of shopping around for their preferred product at every opportunity.

black_bird 7y ago
> "the free market will just fix everything" I think the market doesn't fix anything because there's nothing to fix in this case. > you're not being given a representative set of available options... What would those options be? Who decides that? For me the market does, who should do it for you? What I'm saying is simple, if there are more people who demand services that respect their privacy, then the offer of those services will arise. If, for example, we are in an abstemious society no one will demand wine, then it is foolish to try to produce wine under those circumstances. It will only be profitable to produce wine there if the preferences of that society change. >"just give up all your data, it's fiiiinnne" I don't know. It may or may not be fine, you decide for you and I decide for me. I'm not going to force you to make a decision you don't want and I hope you do the same. Anyway, it's silly to say that we can't have privacy on the Internet. My position is that we can have the services we want, privacy, security, with whatever preponderant factor we want to have, but not for free. You will pay with money, with personal data or whatever the other party accepts as payment, but you will always pay. All this discussion takes place only in contexts where there are people who think they can access all kinds of things for "free", who have the right to dispose of someone else's work, capital, time or property as they please. Whether we like it or not, the market currently tells us that, in general, access to certain services is more valuable than consumer privacy.