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Report: Internet Users Feel Powerless To Protect Their Privacy From Corporations

Mark Wilson writes: A paper produced by a team at the University of Pennsylvania confirms something many people have probably thought true for some time: the notion that internet users are unhappy with the way their privacy is undermined by advertisers and online companies, yet feel there is nothing they can do about it. While marketing companies like to present an image of customers who are happy to hand over personal information in return for certain benefits, the truth is rather different. Rather than dedicating time and energy to trying to stop personal data from being exploited, people are instead taking it on the chin and accepting it as part and parcel of modern, online life. It's just the way things are.

4 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I think so by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I use Firefox with the following add-ons: AdBlock (no whitelist), Better Privacy, Google Analytics Opt Out, HTTPS-Everywhere, Noscript, Privacy Badger and Self-Destructing Cookies.

    How are we supposed to know what add-ons you use?

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  2. Re:Wait, what? by tlambert · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is the article implying that there IS a way to protect our privacy? How?

    (1) Hack the company's servers
    (2) Delete the data they have collected
    (3) Hope the do not detect the intrusion before their rolling backups overwrite their pervious backups which include your data
    (4) ???
    (5) Profit!

    Not that this is really recommended; they are bigger than you, legally speaking.

  3. ...Because it's NOT YOUR JOB! by tlambert · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you want to preserve your privacy, then DON'T PUT PICTURES OF YOUR COCK ONLINE!

    As we discovered in the John Oliver interview with Edward Snowden, it's the NSA's job to put pictures of your cock online, not yours!

  4. Re: Wait, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Someone with a solution for your problem will be here shortly. Please hold.