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Your comment looks like you assume that the majority of internet users have an informed opinion about privacy on the internet. I deny that assumption. My obse
by loup-vaillant 16y ago
Your comment looks like you assume that the majority of internet users have an informed opinion about privacy on the internet. I deny that assumption.
My observation is that more than 90% computer users don't have a clue. They don't know how computers work, what they store, and what they send. I've even seen computer engineering students that don't know that Gmail does semantic analysis on their e-mail, despite the presence of targeted ads and a very good spam filter.
Now, of the 10% who do have a clue, most don't know the exact nature of each threat to their privacy. They just know they are being watched by Big Profitable Companies that sell each other their data. They don't always know that they can protect themselves from some of those threats, let alone how. Even when they do, it requires some effort up-front, and the benefits tend to be long-term and invisible.
Therefore, the extremely low percentage of people who use adblock, noscript, Tor or whatever isn't the result of most people doing a rational cost-benefit evaluation based on informed opinions about privacy on the internet. Indeed, I suspect that among those who do an informed opinion, very few have deliberately chosen not to use privacy helpers like adblock, noscript, or Tor.
- axod 16y agoWhy should they have a clue about inner workings. Most people also don't know how a car engine works. My comment isn't that people have an informed opinion about privacy, more that it's a moot point to them. It's like asking them their opinion on a new fuel injection component. Users rightly assume that their personal details will be kept securely by any website they give them to. > " Indeed, I suspect that among those who do an informed opinion, very few have deliberately chosen not to use privacy helpers like adblock, noscript, or Tor" BS. Try using tor for a day. It's useless, ridiculously slow, and means things don't work properly. Also I tried adblock for a day, and I hated it. I want to see the internet uncensored. If a website pisses me off with popup ads, I'll just not go there again. I think that's pretty typical behavior. NoScript is an even stupider idea. Who in their right mind would disable javascript? Pretty much all websites will be broken. The only people who would install noscript are the analy OCD afflicted control freaks.
- loup-vaillant 16y agoYour post looked like it was trying to assess that privacy isn't such a big deal, period. One of its arguments was an appeal to popularity: the extremely low percentage of people who use special privacy tools. Appeal to popularity can be valid, but I say that it doesn't work here, because the extremely low popularity of privacy tools is fully explained by the fact that nearly everyone doesn't have a clue, and therefore no opinion worth listening to. (When seeking truth, at least. Studying uninformed opinions has other uses.) > BS Ah, that is a meaningful disagreement. Well, you've just treated me of an OCD afflicted control freak, along with Eben Moglen. :-) By the way, the majority of the web site I go to (mostly from HN), work like charms, and I don't often have to enable Javascript. Tor doesn't work, true, and that's why I intend to run an exit node very soon. It'll be a drop in the ocean, but we gotta start somewhere. I liked Adblock while I used it, but animated ads stopped bothering me since NoScript.