“Your Lack of Privacy Is Someone Else’s Wealth”


Great quote from Jaron Lanier.

It just about sums it up. Perhaps “… and/or Power” could be added. But then it’s less catchy.

This is a great insight. Why do we instinctively feel uncomfortable with invasions of privacy? We often take that as a given, without thinking through what exactly it is that makes us uncomfortable.

Jaron put his finger on it: if we let somebody cross the lines we draw for our privacy, we let them gain some (maybe a little, maybe much) power over us, and we let them become richer because of what they learned about us, without us having any kind of benefit.

It’s unfair. And nobody likes unfair.

So: you want to use information about me? Make it worth my while, and we’re fine.

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