Yet another tech observer claims that “no one cares about privacy anymore.” Personally, I think privacy is a lie – a giant red herring to distract people from the real issues. But these strident declarations that “no one cares” are self-evidently untrue. Just think about it: the fact that the article is written at all means that people care. You don’t see declarations that “no one cares about podiatry” – because foot medicine really is a topic that interests very few people.
Let’s examine the author’s “proof” that no one cares about privacy -
Successful social networks like Facebook show that people are willing to exchange privacy for free services. This is wrong for two reasons:
First, people are willing to exchange money for services, it happens literally all the time, and obviously it doesn’t mean that no one cares about money. In fact, people care about money precisely because it can be exchanged for valuable goods.
Second, none of the services in question are explicit about the privacy proposition. You don’t see anyone saying, “Hey, we’ll give you this great free service, and you give us your personal information, which we’ll sell and use anywhere we want, potentially causing you embarrassment and harm.” Instead, they say, “Hey, we’ll give you this great free service (and don’t worry, your information is safe with us).” The fact that people are willing to believe that second statement doesn’t show that people don’t care about privacy, it shows that people are easily fooled.
Less privacy leads to a more virtuous society. This is an attempt to provide a reason that no one should care about privacy; it’s not in any way support that no one does care. Once again, the statement itself disproves the author’s point: you wouldn’t need to give reasons to give something up if no one cared about that thing. And more importantly, less freedom would lead to a more virtuous society (in at least some people’s minds), but that obviously doesn’t mean that we should give up freedom for virtue.
The younger generation doesn’t care about privacy, so you shouldn’t either. Oh man, where should I start with this? The younger generation doesn’t care about a lot of things when they’re young. And they change their minds about a lot of things as they get older. And whether or not they ever change their minds, the older generation doesn’t choose what to care about based on what the younger generation thinks (other than oldsters who are desperately trying to cling to youth by emulating the young).
And finally, the younger generation has different notions of privacy, which they care an awful lot about. Sure they’ll post a drunken party picture for “the world” to see. But did they want their mom to see it? Ask any teen if they want privacy from their parents; you’ll find out that teens care deeply about privacy. That desire for privacy is as strong as any you’ll see, and it doesn’t go away – it evolves from a concern about parents into a concern about employers, colleagues, the government, the spouses and children.
Look, it’s stupid to argue about whether people care about privacy (I’m including myself in that stupidity), and not just because the existence of the argument itself proves that people care, and not just because privacy is a lie anyway. Why argue when you can look at actual scientific research rather than bald assertions?
Tags: privacy
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