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Comment by pjc50 | Hacker News Reader

Schneier used to talk about "the Exxon Valdez of privacy", the idea that there would be a single giant spill that had significantly bad effects enough that it would force change.

That has basically not happened. It sometimes seems that the situation has got worse in terms of public debate, due to the usual bad-faith actors. For example, the TikTok discussion is not framed around privacy in general but focuses on "China bad". With the implication that an algorithmic megacorp controlling political sentiment through feeds is completely fine so long as it's Americans doing it. And the voting security discussion: there were questions about voting machines long before 2020, but partisan attacks focused on discrediting valid results.

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If a major credit agency leak didn't do it, I doubt anything will... At least in terms of a large scale event. We went through the likes of melissa and "I love you" and several others around Y2K (and even that). In the end, life goes on for the most part. What people don't see, they're oblivious to and have short term memories on top.

The credit leaks weren’t used in a way that was obvious to consumers. I’m sure identity theft went up, but that’s still an abstract concern to most consumers.

I think it will have to be something large-scale and obviously concerning to consumers. Something like voice calls leaking and being used to create a mass deepfake campaign targeting consumers.

I don’t think people will care until it’s a problem on their doorstep, sending them phone calls and notifications and what not. Identity theft is too abstract, and too “something that happens to old and other people, not me”.

> a single giant spill that had significantly bad effects enough that it would force change.

That's the premise of the Brian K Vaughan/Marcos Martin comic "The Private Eye." Unfortunately, the premise is more of an aesthetic than anything else. Still, it's a beautiful aesthetic and a fun read.

Yeah keep in mind that both political parties heavily use private data farms to narrowcast campaign advertising. Facebook is just one of those. Basically there’s a private sector spying industry and the government enjoys the benefits too.

TikTok is messed up for many reasons. One being it’s a waste of everyone’s time. Two, foreign nations getting a treasure trove of video footage on a massive populace in the age of AI. This WILL lead to a faked mass-casualty event using real identities of people to cause political unrest. Just a matter of time—and data.

Going back to the article though, the social media baseline needs to be fixed as well. The OG Facebook platform was actually GOOD—lots of good-natured value in human connections. Then they started cutting in the bad shit reducing its purity.

TikTok took that to a whole new level and put in some home grown Singaporean crack. Ironically, the Chinese and Singapore have hefty penalty’s for drugs—and yet they thrust it onto the western sensibility. After all, it’s the WILD WEST.

> Ironically, the Chinese and Singapore have hefty penalty’s for drugs—and yet they thrust it onto the western sensibility. After all, it’s the WILD WEST.

One almost wants to say, revenge for the opium.

Got lots of down-votes. HN needs to implement a feature requiring a REASON for down votes.

you are basically making the same old "digital fentanyl" argument that nancy fucking pelosi has been making for the last year.

it's just not that compelling.

Not really… per the article the baseline of privacy is being reduced. I’m illustrating a parallel with social media where the baseline good human connections is now how to make the most addictive attention-getting experience.

How is this not relevant to the base post? A shifting baseline toward the worse.

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