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Ask HN: Do users give up privacy due to lack of care or due to lack of option?

9 points by mateo1 ↗ HN
I'm trying to be more social with distant coworkers and acquaintances, so I tried installing a messaging app. All of them (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Signal) require full and unrestricted access to all my contacts to work. Most of you already know the privacy implications this type of metadata has. I'm simply not willing to give them access, at least not on my main device.

I think a good understanding of the mentality of the crowd regarding this topic is also pretty important from a developers perspective.

So this got me wondering, don't users care at all about that stuff? Is it because they don't understand the tradeoffs? Is it because they understand the tradeoffs but don't care? Or are they forced into it like I am?

6 comments

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throwaway8879
It essentially boils down to convenience, or "what do I have to hide, i'm not doing anything shady". People who understand and do care will still do a cost/benefit analysis.

I mean, I just installed Telegram to talk to a girl I like. We all have to decide how strict we are going to be and how it ties in with our principles.

miblon
It depends. If you want to provide a transparent history of communications, slack can be an option. If you want no limitations, gitter or mattermost can work. And if you want full control, now and in the future, you host your own gitter or mattermost instance.
open-source-ux
Users care, but they don't understand the myriad ways in which they can be tracked. How could they? Developers on the other hand do understand. And what do they do about it? Nothing.

Rather than ask why users don't care, why not ask: why do developers care so little for privacy?

Developers are best placed to explain and raise awareness of issues surrounding privacy and online tracking. It's this industry, after all, that built the infrastructure that enables industrial-scale tracking in the first place. Often, developers actually rush to the defence of privacy-poor corporations.

I've said it before, but when it comes to privacy and online tracking, this industry is rife with hypocrisy.

lumberjack
Definitely lack of options, plus peer pressure, plus the herd mentality of thinking, "well, if everyone is doing it, it cannot be that bad, can it?".
lovestodonothin
Lack of option as eventually you begin to miss out on some services that use your data. Finally had to give in as they were free and it's a small price to pay to use them.
amibang
That's why I use Apple mobile devices only -- They don't let apps demand permissions they don't need. Most people I know are the same way.