People have control over their individual online use cases and should assume more personal responsibility for managing their online profile. It is voluntary to join the LE email spam network, FB/G privacy invasion operations, disqus commenting, etc.
It's a shame that these social networks that were intended to enable friend and family (biz in LE case) have devolved into open public access to your personal interactions. As they further infringe on the original use cases more people will leave them for alternative solutions.
unfortunately, the average user is convinced that one has no problem if one has nothing to hide. i don't foresee the average user deciding to jump ship without a strong push.
I don't think the typical user thinks he's got nothing to hide.
More probably, he doesn't realize just how much he's spied on or by whom. Nor does he realize how the information these spies gather on him could be or is being used to his detriment.
He also probably doesn't know about any privacy-respecting alternatives, or if he does, he finds them too much of a pain to use, or doesn't want to sacrifice his Facebook friends or his nifty smartphone.
Fortunately, the masses are slowly becoming educated, more computer literate, and more privacy/security aware overall. It is heartening to see stories about online privacy on mainstream news sites like CNN. Being a victim of identity theft, stalking, or harrassment can also be an unfortunate but powerful wake up call to the need for privacy.
It's a slow process, but the more people become aware of their vulnerability and victimization by the surveillance state, the more they will try to seek alternatives and call for positive change. I just hope by then it won't be too late.
I wish I could agree, but I recently explained to one of my most intelligent friends just how much tracking is done, by whom, and how. She just argued that she didn't have anything to hide. A few days later, she admitted that I might have a point, but still wasn't interested in ditching Facebook.
I hope you're right. If something doesn't change for the masses, alternatives will never really gain traction.
A lot of the tracking technology is developing from the advertising space, but also to monetize clicks for affiliate commissions. It's the same technology applied to an adjacent market.
The throughput, latency, computing power and memory wasn't sufficient to do what we can do today a short 5-10 years ago. The hardware has advanced so much over the past decade that it is attainable at the consumer/non-sovereign level now. Anyone with a thousand bucks free monthly cash flow and the coding chops can get very far independently.
It's a shame that these social networks that were intended to enable friend and family (biz in LE case) have devolved into open public access to your personal interactions. As they further infringe on the original use cases more people will leave them for alternative solutions.