The problem is not that software developers are sleeping, it's that most users do not care much and are not willing to pay for privacy despite saying it's important for them. This might change when people actually realize what companies can and will do with their personal data and how easy it is to categorize, predict and manipulate people with only a little of their behavior data. Until then, people will just enjoy their free search engines, social networks, phone operating systems and will be content paying with their private data.<p>Some things are changing for the better though: Many people finally become a bit more informed about privacy, also thanks to the effort of journalists uncovering some of the biggest data scandals.<p>In addition, at least for EU citizens the situation should massively improve on May 25, 2018, as then the new EU data protection directive will come into force, which will significantly increase the rights of people to control how, when and by whom their data can be used. And with a maximum fine corresponding to 4 % of the worldwide revenue, companies will finally have some good incentives to be more careful with the data of their users.
> Kids today are growing up with iPads in their laps that teach them how to code.<p>No. They're growing up with iPads in their laps that teach them how not to code. Computing used to be creative perforce. Now the larger trend is to consumption - perforce.<p>There is a heartening smaller trend to creativity with Pi, Arduino etc...but it is tiny compared to the mainstream use of computers.
"Apathetic software developers who refuse to take the privacy fight seriously."<p>This article is hosted by a third-party and has Google Analytics.
If you'd like something concrete to DO about this as a software developer -<p>Deploy your server into sandstorm.io<p><a href="https://sandstorm.io/news/2014-07-21-open-source-web-apps-require-federated-hosting" rel="nofollow">https://sandstorm.io/news/2014-07-21-open-source-web-apps-re...</a>
I am a practicing IP, software and information attorney.<p>I wrote (as in, me personally, in Node) and just released <a href="http://gibber.it" rel="nofollow">http://gibber.it</a> , which is currently in beta, to allow users to send end-to-end encrypted messages through basically any place in a browser that you can enter text.<p>It currently works quite well on gmail, nytimes.com comment boards and on reddit. It will soon be working on facebook (their content-security-policy is very strict - rightly so - and I am making the extension compatible with these requirements).<p>* It currently functions as a chrome extension.<p>* Sign up, invite connections just like any other social network.<p>* Encryption is end to end, AES 128 with nonce'd salts.<p>* Use a password you share with your connection (NOT your login password) to send connection invites - this is used to encrypt your keys during the invite process. (Make sure to accept the return invite! This is how your connection sends his or her keys back to you. Also note that you will likely need to reload any tab running the extension after accepting an invite in order to get the keys to load.)<p>* Use the chrome extension to encrypt and decrypt messages as you browse.<p>You can see it in action here:
<a href="https://www.gibberit.com/#!how" rel="nofollow">https://www.gibberit.com/#!how</a><p>Mobile coming soon. HIPAA compliance coming soon.<p>Terms of Service Here:
<a href="https://www.gibberit.com/terms" rel="nofollow">https://www.gibberit.com/terms</a><p>Privacy Policy Here:
<a href="https://www.gibberit.com/privacy" rel="nofollow">https://www.gibberit.com/privacy</a><p>Please note that the system is in BETA. Still many tweaks to work out. Use is at your own risk.<p>Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I welcome any and all feedback. Love the system? Hate the system? Please let me know. More about me here: <a href="http://www.lawyernamedliberty.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.lawyernamedliberty.com</a><p>Edit: Please note that the gibberit homepage - AND NO OTHER PAGE - uses google analytics. This is clearly detailed in my privacy policy. Aside from that, I do not use any tracking software.
<i>Why software developers are holding us back</i><p>I know it's more fun to play blame the nerds, but this author needs to sit down and have a bit of a think about why they're blaming people for building the things they were paid to build, rather than the people who decided that the things should be built. But there are no easy answers there, all you get is a sense that there are an overwhelming number of force vectors that all make the status quo happen.<p>If the moral imperative is on engineers to band together, and refuse work for the purpose of breaking us out of the feedback loops we're in, you're going to need a lot more principle and actionable advice in your argument than some shitty hand-waving to throw developers under the bus so you can huck your notetaking app.
The doomsaying about privacy in this article is way overblown if you ask me.<p>I agree that most of these big companies/governments are greedily collecting as much data as they can without even a clear plan of how it all will be used, and that the amount of data being collected is definitely way more than most users know.<p>But will I someday be prosecuted for the news articles I read or the songs I listen to or my amazon purchases or my google searches? I guess maybe, but that is a HUGE maybe.<p>If the number one motivator for internet privacy is so that <i>if</i> there is someday an oppressive totalitarian government I will be safe, then I'm not convinced. Besides - I doubt the new government will really be stymied by my use of a private server.<p>The truth is most of the data collection benefits us all in at least some small way. Spotify provides better recommendations, google provides better search results. Even the ads we are served are more appropriate for us (for better or for worse).<p>And when people do absolutely need privacy there are suitable options already available. But these are niche products for a reason: most people lead innocuous lives.
Many people are doing something about this. Change is slow but surely happening. We don't have the right products to trigger a privacy revolution but they are being built. Deploying a server and installing most of the apps required for day to day use had never been simpler. See cloudron.io and sandstorm.io (though sandstorm seems to have failed to find a business model).
This kind of argument is like shaming people for not using solar panels or some other green tech because they are too 'lazy' to make the sacrifice. Or shaming people for not using linux as their desktop operating system. Or for using MP3s.<p>The reality is you need to make the economics and usage of it better than the current de facto reality. There are reasons why the current status quo is the status quo, and you have to be more compelling than the status quo to beat it.<p>It's why signal forces everyone to use phone numbers as identifiers & use google play services. It is why PGP has failed. It is why your next consumer privacy product will probably still use those cloud services, but client side encrypt.<p>Now that solar panels are meeting the price of gas, we will very soon see solar overtaking a lot power plant production in the world. Because it will be the cheapest.
I agree with the general premise of the article that software developers need to focus more on privacy, something that neither large corporations nor closed source programs are likely to do. A few years ago I became so frustrated with the privacy behavior of the major browsers, which treat users like a commodity to be sold to advertisers and corporations with large internet presences, that I developed Privacy Browser. Currently it is only available for Android, although future development will bring it to other platforms.<p><a href="https://www.stoutner.com/privacy-browser/" rel="nofollow">https://www.stoutner.com/privacy-browser/</a><p>Regarding the article being published on Medium.com, I think it is ironic that anyone with strong privacy views would use a platform that requires accepting third-party cookies to create an account or post a comment.
There seem to be many privacy solutions, but little adoption. Sorry, but I have to blame the consumers, not developers. I am actually amazed at how much manpower is being poured into doomed privacy projects. Like how many encrypted messenger apps are there, that never stand a chance against WhatsApp and Facebook?
> The difference between reading and managing servers is childhood.<p>That analogy is crap. Is the difference between reading and launching people into space childhood, too? We don't blame authors for kids who can't read any more than you can solve technical illiteracy by bludgeoning software authors. Can we help? Yes, certainly (and check out <a href="https://www.cs-first.com/en/home" rel="nofollow">https://www.cs-first.com/en/home</a> if you haven't). But throwing shade isn't going to magically make an entire class of folks learn something they don't care about.
If anyone else is curious about the cool title artwork, the artist is Josan Gonzalez and you can find more here: <a href="https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-art-photography/the-future-is-now-an-interview-with-josan-gonzalez/" rel="nofollow">https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-art-photography/the-f...</a>
This dude is 100% right. Every developer I've worked with ever gives zero fucks about privacy. This is one change that has to happen with us, because you're damn right users aren't going to care.