A Case Against the Peeping Tom Theory of Privacy | WIRED

In an Apple commercial that was on heavy rotation last fall, people go around telling strangers intimate information about themselves. I browsed eight sites for divorce attorneys today, a guy shouts to a bus full of passengers. A beautiful woman informs a passerby, My home is in 1,000 feet. A man in a bathroom stall announces, I m currently reading an article titled 10 Ways to Keep Sweaty Hands From Holding You Back. Finally, you find out what it s selling: Apple s privacy protections. Some things shouldn t be shared, reads white text on a black background. iPhone helps keep it that way.

As something of a privacy enthusiast, I loved that commercial. It s effective more than 25 million views on YouTube because it s intuitive. You wouldn t tell a coworker or a stranger on the street you looked at an embarrassing article, so why are you telling data brokers and ad tech companies?

via www.wired.com