

Americans Say They Want Privacy, but Act as If They Don’t - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/upshot/americans-say-they-want-privacy-but-act-as-if-they-dont.html?ref=technology&abt=0002&abg=0

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kordless
Not setting intent to educate oneself about an issue is not the same as not
caring about that issue if you were decently educated on it. My observation is
that a good number of Americans are in a rush to go about their day-to-day
activities and end up skimping on educating themselves on important topics
that relate to their personal freedoms. Many may end up relying on the sound
bites presented in the news to quickly arrive at an opinion on a given
subject.

I do think 'those in charge' here try to exploit this to their advantage. Just
look at the outright fabrication of facts presented to us during elections and
spread by our government officials during times of crisis. Nothing forms
cognitive dissonance faster than being scared mindless by a hypothesized
crisis and then presented with a 'solution' to preventing the crisis affecting
you by having it spoon fed to you via a 30 second news bite. Nothing to see
here...move along.

If anyone is to blame, it's the press here.

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bredren
I'm sitting at Pii2014 (Privacy, Identity, Innovation) in Palo Alto right now
and FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez is on stage discussing consumer privacy
protections.

She's emphasizing an opportunity to educate consumers on "privacy options and
transparency." She describes online services as "black boxes" and that if
educated, consumers will be in a better position to exercise control.

Her comments seem to support the need for individual services to provide
better privacy options and clear information about the privacy impacts of
using super-sticky services.

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forgottenpass
_Americans say they are deeply concerned about privacy on the web and their
cellphones. They say they do not trust Internet companies or the government to
protect it. Yet they keep using the services and handing over their personal
information._

This is a convenient misunderstanding and refraiming of the privacy debate.
Privacy is IN PART hiding, but privacy is also IN PART exercising the self
control and granting the respect for others to not collect a dataum, even if
they haven't made it outright infeasible to collect. Or for the more fishy
situations, collecting dataum X for purpose Y (which the customer/user/exposed
passerby likes), but refraining from using it for purpose Z (which they
dislike).

Corporate interests want us to forget the second half. If a person reasons
like "I technically can, therefore nothing is wrong with doing so," that's a
sign of possible psychopathy. I don't see why we should let it slide when
someone's simply appends "because money."

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mobiuscog
I don't think it's necessarily education, and it's definitely not limited to
Americans.

It's all about convenience. People in general will take the most easy /
convenient choice over all others.

You may want privacy, but being able to watch cute cat videos, even if you're
tracked, it so much nicer.

People care about lots of things, but they always tend towards whatever is
easiest.

