

Disconnect co-founder: 'People will pay for tools to protect privacy' - wtildesley
http://postdesk.com/blog/disconnect-facebook-privacy-google-chrome-casey-oppenheim-interview

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SODaniel
In my opinion there has been an endless stream of attempts at selling
'security' and privacy as a stand-alone product to end users with little
success.

The key to successful security is to sell security focused products that
seamlessly integrate privacy and security in a way that the user can
understand.

When it comes to for example storage both us at <https://spideroak.com> and
several competing companies focus on security and privacy as a integral part
of a service offering.

This way the users can be certain that their data is secure, private and
accessible without having to concern themselves with adding security as a
'feature'.

This approach does add a not inconsequential cost to both the cost base and
the service offering, but we believe that it is becoming a more and more
important sales argument, especially as more and more business critical data
moves to the cloud.

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casca
Yes, they will pay for .... ooh! What's that? A game where I can raise
chickens online and show my friends how well I do it? I just need to click
"OK" to some popup? No problem!

Where were we again? Oh yes, people value their privacy and will pay to
protect it. Definitely.

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MikeGrace
I think those who \- want to protect their privacy and don't know how \- don't
want to change their online behavior \- have enough disposable income to spend
money on a privacy protection tool

will be the target audience.

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kcurtin
Maybe I am in the minority here, but I don't really care if companies use my
behavior/information in order to serve up ads.

I don't see how advertisers having access to what brands I associate with or
what my interests are has a major impact on anything outside of what I do on
the web. Even on the web, the only way it impacts my experience is that I am
served up more relevant ads. I don't think that advertisers having this
information (or sites I use selling it) is a real problem - especially when it
results in me not having to pay for a site or service that I value. Am I
really alone on this?

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gyardley
Of course they will - just not very many of them, and not very much, and not
if they discover one of the many free services that do the same thing.

I know three groups of people who at one time looked hard at producing a paid
ad-blocker. All three of them independently decided it was a terrible idea for
the above reasons.

The problem's compounded by the growing number of sites that just don't work
properly if you block something that 'protects your privacy', but interferes
with their business model. Sometimes this happens inadvertently, but not
always.

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Fliko
I don't think people will pay for tools to protect their privacy because
people have the choice to register a facebook account, and this choice makes
most people feel like their privacy isn't at any risk.

