[HN Gopher] The data privacy paradox and digital demand
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       The data privacy paradox and digital demand
        
       Author : hhs
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2021-06-28 22:44 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (voxeu.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (voxeu.org)
        
       | v4dok wrote:
       | Privacy is not a 'hygiene' need. People will never choose privacy
       | over satisfying a (big enough) need. However, privacy-conscious
       | people will always choose the private option between two
       | identical services. They might even accept a discount on the
       | usability because of privacy.
       | 
       | So yes, their behaviour might not change online but that is
       | because there is no acceptable alternative. That is at least how
       | i experience it.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | tnzm wrote:
       | A study of privacy preferences within a Chinese walled garden?
       | Talk about selling refrigerators to the Inuit...
        
       | ajb wrote:
       | There's a book, 'Savages' by Joe Kane, about the Huaorani tribe
       | of Ecuador. The Huaorani were considerably disrupted by the
       | activities of the oil companies, which were polluting their land.
       | The Huao were aware of this, and lobbied the government and
       | journalists to stop it, etc. But nevertheless if there was a food
       | giveaway, or work, in an oil company compound, they would
       | nevertheless take the food or work, allowing themselves to become
       | dependent on them.
       | 
       | In the book this explained as being part of their culture, since
       | on a day to day basis the hunter who brought in food that day
       | gained prestige, and since the oil companies could easily source
       | cheap food, the Huao partly deferred to them even though they
       | knew that the oil companies acted against their interests.
       | 
       | At the time I thought that western people would not fall for such
       | a thing, but maybe it's a more general pattern of human behavior
        
         | nine_k wrote:
         | If their interest was to (also) procure food, the oil company
         | acted in their interest.
         | 
         | The industrial civilization is taking over the Earth not just
         | because it is strong and aggressive, but also because it
         | provides comforts and security to people.
         | 
         | With that, damaging the environment is neither pleasant nor
         | wise. The very society made possible by the industrial
         | civilization pressures the industry to become cleaner, with
         | some success.
        
           | ajb wrote:
           | It was a lot more complex than my summary above. The book is
           | a good read, if you have the time.
        
       | hhs wrote:
       | If interested, this is the study paper:
       | https://www.nber.org/papers/w28854
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | Yes, people give away their private data for small conveniences,
       | much like how pets give away their natural lives in wilderness
       | for a guaranteed meal and a warm house.
       | 
       | We are being domesticated by big companies!
        
       | roenxi wrote:
       | Evolutionary speaking, monocultures are risky. Usually resisting
       | the mainstream is a mistake. Sometimes it really pays off in a
       | big way.
       | 
       | It wouldn't be surprising if 'privacy conscious' people had
       | substantial overlap with the 'I want to be different' crowd. I'm
       | still a bit confused about how someone could _actually_ be
       | privacy conscious, it is too hard to understand the tech stack
       | and too easy for data to get picked up by the ad companies of the
       | internet. Let alone government actors.
        
         | threatofrain wrote:
         | This study of Alipay users suggests that regardless of what you
         | thought you were, initial user privacy-concerned activity was
         | largely the same across groups that indicated low, medium, or
         | high concern for privacy.
         | 
         | So in this case you wouldn't be talking about people who
         | _actually_ make different bets, just people who _say_ they make
         | different bets.
         | 
         | Regardless of how users rank themselves in terms of privacy
         | concerns, intensity and duration of engagement with a plethora
         | of Alipay services may be a better predictor of whether a user
         | will engage in privacy-concerned behaviors. This suggests that
         | actual privacy concern may be better described as a learned
         | preference.
        
       | pintxo wrote:
       | Genuine curiosity, is data privacy an actual topic in China
       | (considering the purported ubiquitous state surveillance)?
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-30 23:03 UTC)