4 ms·

How is the view from your ivory tower? Most consumers don't care and are not even aware of these issues.

novok 7y ago
It's more of a 'too complex to understand' issue than a care issue. If you spelled out what these trackers really track, a lot of people wouldn't be comfortable with it. Since it's tracking is hidden, people are not worried about what they are not aware of.
- smallgovt 7y ago
  I disagree. I think most people just want to view cat memes and connect with their friends online. If the cost of that is their privacy, so be it. At the end of the day, I think privacy loss will have to have a materially negative impact on people's lives before they start to care enough to change their behavior. Right now, the only material negative impact requires what I would characterize as fear mongering.
  - AmericanChopper 7y ago
    Reminds me of that video where Jamie Oliver showed a group of kids the rather disgusting process for making chicken nuggets, and all the children were appropriately disgusted, but when he asked the kids afterwards who wanted to eat some of the chicken nuggets, they all wanted to eat the nuggets.
- qroshan 7y ago
  The probability of your data being seen by another human and attributed to you is 0.00000001%. You have better chance of winning lotteries than this. Only ultra losers whose time is worthless or Ultra Rich who have lots to lose due to a data breach care about privacy. It's just manufactured outrage because everything else is comfortable to them (it's usually white dudes because they don't face real persecution in life and they have to manufacture this so that they can claim to be a victim)
  - time0ut 7y ago
    I think the average person cares a lot about privacy, but simply don't know about all the ways their privacy can be violated. Anyone can be hurt by a data breach. Look at those exposed in the Ashley Madison breach.
    - qroshan 7y ago
      Actually not much happened to people who got exposed in the Ashley Madison breach, or Equifax or Facebook or Target.. This is just manufactured outrage and fear-mongering. The biggest threat to humans are still social phishing and social scams, which has led to 1000x financial loses and other reputation loses.
      - justincredible 7y ago
        and PII has no effect w.r.t. social engineering.
  - flukus 7y ago
    It's not just about someone seeing your information, it's that it's being weaponized against you, usually to make you spend more money than you otherwise would have. Advertisers aren't charities, they expect a return on their investment.
clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago
This industry is poised to be regulated. Reap rewards while you can.

It's more of a 'too complex to understand' issue than a care issue. If you spelled out what these trackers really track, a lot of people wouldn't be comfortable with it. Since it's tracking is hidden, people are not worried about what they are not aware of.

smallgovt 7y ago
I disagree. I think most people just want to view cat memes and connect with their friends online. If the cost of that is their privacy, so be it. At the end of the day, I think privacy loss will have to have a materially negative impact on people's lives before they start to care enough to change their behavior. Right now, the only material negative impact requires what I would characterize as fear mongering.
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  Reminds me of that video where Jamie Oliver showed a group of kids the rather disgusting process for making chicken nuggets, and all the children were appropriately disgusted, but when he asked the kids afterwards who wanted to eat some of the chicken nuggets, they all wanted to eat the nuggets.
qroshan 7y ago
The probability of your data being seen by another human and attributed to you is 0.00000001%. You have better chance of winning lotteries than this. Only ultra losers whose time is worthless or Ultra Rich who have lots to lose due to a data breach care about privacy. It's just manufactured outrage because everything else is comfortable to them (it's usually white dudes because they don't face real persecution in life and they have to manufacture this so that they can claim to be a victim)
- time0ut 7y ago
  I think the average person cares a lot about privacy, but simply don't know about all the ways their privacy can be violated. Anyone can be hurt by a data breach. Look at those exposed in the Ashley Madison breach.
  - qroshan 7y ago
    Actually not much happened to people who got exposed in the Ashley Madison breach, or Equifax or Facebook or Target.. This is just manufactured outrage and fear-mongering. The biggest threat to humans are still social phishing and social scams, which has led to 1000x financial loses and other reputation loses.
    - justincredible 7y ago
      and PII has no effect w.r.t. social engineering.
- flukus 7y ago
  It's not just about someone seeing your information, it's that it's being weaponized against you, usually to make you spend more money than you otherwise would have. Advertisers aren't charities, they expect a return on their investment.

clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago

This industry is poised to be regulated. Reap rewards while you can.