In that scenario, not violating your users' privacy would become a differentiator for your product, something you could market. Ever noticed how much advertising in highly competitive businesses seem to hinge on ever more strained explanations of how one product is different from the other?
Except, of course (and this is probably the ugly truth) - as long as Facebook doesn't do creepy/embarrassing things or otherwise actively annoy their customers, the vast, vast majority of customers just doesn't care. And then there isn't really a problem.
Privacy is very much a market for lemons. Lets take two scenarios and see which is more profitable.
1. Respect privacy.
2. Carefully mislead the customer to believe the company respects user privacy in a way their fuzzy morals tell them isn't a "lie," bury the truth in the fine print. Lose the handful of customers both technically savvy, principled and capable enough to not use the product while profiting from abusing the privacy of their users.
Your second paragraph explains it. As long as companies are sufficiently non-creepy in their privacy invasion (or at least APPEAR to be such), then the only people who will care are cypherpunks and privacy nerds, who don't form a large part of the market. The "masses" usually go for the latest shiny toy.
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In that scenario, not violating your users' privacy would become a differentiator for your product, something you could market. Ever noticed how much advertising in highly competitive businesses seem to hinge on ever more strained explanations of how one product is different from the other?
Except, of course (and this is probably the ugly truth) - as long as Facebook doesn't do creepy/embarrassing things or otherwise actively annoy their customers, the vast, vast majority of customers just doesn't care. And then there isn't really a problem.
Privacy is very much a market for lemons. Lets take two scenarios and see which is more profitable.
1. Respect privacy.
2. Carefully mislead the customer to believe the company respects user privacy in a way their fuzzy morals tell them isn't a "lie," bury the truth in the fine print. Lose the handful of customers both technically savvy, principled and capable enough to not use the product while profiting from abusing the privacy of their users.
Your second paragraph explains it. As long as companies are sufficiently non-creepy in their privacy invasion (or at least APPEAR to be such), then the only people who will care are cypherpunks and privacy nerds, who don't form a large part of the market. The "masses" usually go for the latest shiny toy.