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Comment by MarkMc | Hacker News Reader

> we consistently find the average Facebook user would require more than $1000 to deactivate their account for one year

The Hackerati like to bemoan that most people don't value their privacy and will happily give it up to Facebook and Google, even suggesting that such people don't understand what they are giving up.

But maybe people do value their privacy and do understand what they are giving up - it's just that Facebook and Google offer something that is even more valuable than their privacy.

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That's the same as the Liberty vs Security distinction for laws in society. Time and again average people with prefer to sacrifice the former for the latter.

You make it sound irrational or somehow wrong. When driving on public roads I give up a lot of liberty -- hundreds of rules, fees, mandatory insurance but it's well worth it. Not just because driving itself provides a lot of value but because driving is better for everyone, and in particular me being part of that everyone, with less freedom.

Even in the extreme case like HOAs that enforce lawn height requirements. Yes it's a little insane but it's what keeps the neighborhood valuable and your property value appreciating.

The average person is pretty darn rational. Who wouldn't trade away liberty if they're better off having done so?

"but because driving is better for everyone"

maybe "driving with rules", but driving literally kills via exhaust fumes. if you own a tesla, you've already dumped so much pollution into the air...

"it's what keeps the neighborhood valuable and your property value appreciating"

some people don't care about this stuff. they realise their time on this earth is too short to spend it on "lawn height requirements".

"The average person is pretty darn rational."

Humans aren't rational. At all. Reason is a rare tool. Case in point: the current advertising complex.

Many of the Hackerati would probably just like to know where to sign up for the $1000/year deal.

  Hey, do they pay that retroactively?  I'd like to get

$1000 for every year facebook has existed.

It's a fair question to raise, I guess, but what makes you think that the dollar value for an equivalent experiment "giving up privacy" would be the same or lower?

Assuming people in both studies would give rational answers, otherwise it doesn't add up.

But that's quite an assumption unless both questions are asked in the same study to the same group.

Sounds like drug addiction.

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