James LaPlaineDec 23, 2022
Rand Fishkin

"Americans have real privacy concerns about their online data."

No. We do not.

If Facebook, Amazon, and Google's vacuuming of personal data hasn't proved it, TikTok surely closes the case.

We are happy to trade every scrap of private data, that we know will be used in problematic, unregulatable ways by a non-allied, semi-antagonistic, foreign govt in exchange for a more convenient source of short, entertaining videos.

A small, vocal few may care, but "Americans" broadly do not.

Dec 22, 2022 at 10:48pmMastodon for Android
Show threadMichael W. RobertsDec 22, 2022

@randfish I took a "consumer privacy" class a few years back, and it completely ruined me on a lot of social media and search.

I feel like a lot of Americans are at this point where they/we just feel it's too hard to implement the change (fully switch over to services that respect privacy).

Show threadJames SDec 22, 2022
@randfish lol. I totally agree with you. It’s too abstract, we don’t see them literally stealing our purse or wallet and running away with it, so it doesn’t really exist.
Show threadJonah SteinDec 22, 2022
@randfish As long as we don't have to read the terms and conditions.
Show threadJimMacLeodDec 23, 2022
@randfish “privacy isn’t dead, but it is for sale” - Ray Wang
Show threadRichard O'ConnorDec 23, 2022
@randfish I think people are either unaware of the scale of data they're handing over, or are just ignorant to it. Until we see real consequences of handing our data over to tech giants, we won't stop doing it.
Show threadSteven HammerDec 23, 2022
@randfish should care is very different than does care. We really should care about privacy, but there’s a large group that believes that you don’t need privacy if you have nothing to hide.