Re: [Shutup] [ietf-smtp] real life privacy tradeoffs, was Proposed Charter

["Christian Huitema" <[e-mail]>]

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 8:11 AM, Derek J. Balling wrote:
> On 12/2/2015 10:12 AM, Ted Lemon wrote:
> > Wednesday, Dec 2, 2015 9:49 AM John Levine wrote:
> >> Different people are different and it is not helpful to pretend that
> >> all end users are the same.  Most people say they care about privacy,
> >> but their actions show that they actually don't, e.g., they'll trade
> >> their password and SSN for a candy bar.
> > Show your data or please stop making generalizations like this.   This
is
> really not helpful.
> >
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm

That was a bit of stunt, polling people in the street outside a conference
room, designed to shock and grab attention with little attention paid to
demographics or study conditions. It is also 11 years old, and public
perceptions have evolved a lot since then, especially after the Snowden
revelations. For something a bit more scientific, balanced, and recent, I
recommend the Pew Research Center study on "Public perceptions of privacy,"
November 2014.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/11/12/public-privacy-perceptions/

The Pew Research study shows a fairly good awareness of privacy, a
widespread concern about surveillance by government and businesses, but also
a loss of confidence in the security of common communications channels. Most
say they want to do more to protect their privacy, but many believe it is
not possible to be anonymous online. And many of the responders were
actually taking steps to protect their privacy, however ineffective those
steps may be.

-- Christian Huitema