Ask HN: How to draw attention to do about the erosion of online privacy?

[iamelgringo]

I've been kicking around this idea for a while. And I'd love your input.

There seems to be more and more discontent on HN and in other places regarding the erosion of privacy online. The recent changes on Facebook's privacy policies, the Google Buzz fiasco, along with Zuckerberg and Schmidt's comments this past year seem like dark clouds on the privacy horizon.

Normals can't grok the problems that geeks are trying to draw attention to. And, these policy changes from Google and Facebook are happening so gradually and continually that there really isn't room for any intelligent, public discourse on the implications of this. It seems very much to me like a frog in the kettle scenario.

So, I've been trying to think of ways/hacks to draw attention to this issue. I've been toying with the idea of setting up a site for people to post publicly available information on Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt. Not to be a complete dick about it, but I'd be interested to see if their attitudes towards privacy change at all when it's their personal information being made public.

Any other ideas for publicity hacks to draw attention to this issue?

[percept]

Along the same lines of what you're suggesting would be posting publicly-available information of other business and political leaders to give them a more personal understanding of this issue.

However, the problem is that business and political leaders are already accustomed to a higher level of exposure and scrutiny due to the nature of the positions they hold ("Welcome to our world!").

Another option might be to gain grassroots support by building a "shock" site to show the average person just how much personal information about them is available online. This could be a mashup of several social media/other sites, and could direct people to some form of action after revealing their data.

People interested in fighting the erosion of privacy could also support existing organizations focused on privacy issues.

[GrandMasterBirt → percept]

+1 on the shock site.

And I suggest getting some brains on it and making intelligent reporting of data. Dig up other email addresses, get all places where they lived, jobs they had, car they have color, kid's names, spouse, etc etc etc. And all with a caption "this is just what a few of us hackers came up with without any funding and a few months, imagine what facebook or large companies spending billions on this could figure out!"

Afterwards we take the shock site and sell the mined information for money, because we can, because were building it (duh).

Oh and for added shock, add things like where they have been, where they eat, their preferred foods, where they usually go from what time to what time, when their apartment is usually unattended, etc.

[kingsley_20]

Saw your other HN post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1341236. Here's an idea - make an app for people concerned about privacy - both, their own, as well as that of their friends and family.

What if you sent a message through your app to each person who is revealing personal details about themselves, a) letting them know what's out there b) showing them how to fix it/offering an alternative. In case you are not able to do so directly, you may be able to reach these folks through the people who've installed your app. You could also have a public-facing presence that shows how many possibly privacy fiascos you've helped people notice/squash.

edit/ps: I'd be interested in collaborating, if you're interested in making a public-service app like that.

[mea36 → kingsley_20]

Check out this paper 'FlyByNight: mitigating the privacy risks of social networking' (it can be found on ACM). http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1456405&dl=GUIDE&#...

These people tried something like your idea. If you're going to do something like what they did then in my opinion it isn't really feasible. For starters there are scalability issues. Also, if you're concerned about your privacy but want to message someone who doesn't have this app then you're forced to message them insecurely. I remember having some other reservations about this when I read it but it's been a few months and I've forgotten them.

[pasbesoin]

I've been citing relevant information on my "Wall" -- trying not to overwhelm friends, but to bring notice to each new, substantial development. At most 1 in 10 of my friends has expressed any interest. (Even given a fairly small set of friends I actually know, as opposed to some semi-random monkey pile (people just piling on to a group, e.g. teammates after a goal in soccer)).

I think that, in part, this is due to people turning to Facebook for fun and socialization. They aren't going there for news and problems, and they have little or no desire to look at these when they appear in that context.

On the other hand, any ongoing or potential decrease in participation will likely be as silent. I don't think the current silence means FB is off the hook. Already, a significant fraction of my friends have become substantially less active on FB, whatever their reasons.