Somewhat paradoxically, I don't believe the use of social networks is an indicator that a person doesn't care about privacy. Mostly, they want to communicate with their friends but still keep others out, such as parents and authorities.
I have seen this point being made several times now, that we simply don't deserve privacy or freedom from surveillance because we're using social media. In my opinion, this is wrong. Just because the data is technically available doesn't mean we're implicitly OK with large organizations gathering it all in one place in order to use it against us.
That's not my point at all. Unlike you, I don't presume to predict the behavior of people I don't understand so confidently. I never said that they don't care about privacy. I suspect all humans care. I just expect them to have a different interpretation of it than you do, and I think it's quite arrogant of you to assume that they will naturally agree with you when their backgrounds are so different from yours. Everyone who is convinced in the rightness of their own views believes "time is on my side", but at least one side is always wrong to do so.
It feels really weird to tell you this, but I do believe that was indeed your point. The original statement was
"Those who care about civil rights and an active democracy are young"
to which you replied
"What makes you think the youth will be on your side? This generation is growing up with twitter and facebook as facts of life."
to which I replied
"I don't believe the use of social networks is an indicator that a person doesn't care about privacy."
to which you replied with a stream of insults. I admit I do have trouble seeing where you're coming from. If I misunderstood you in any way, I apologize.
To simplify a bit, I wasn't claiming the next generation would oppose you. I was disputing your claim that they would support you. I think it's far more likely that they will come to some new conclusion that none of us old fogeys will understand, much less accept.
> I wasn't claiming the next generation would oppose you. I was disputing your claim that they would support you.
Oppose or support me in what, exactly? And why is this somehow about me personally? I merely asserted that young people do care about privacy. I'm getting the feeling that you might be conflating what I said with what hengheng wrote.
> I think it's far more likely that they will come to some new conclusion that none of us old fogeys will understand
That's a valid point. However from observation, I would say "people who use $social_network obviously don't care about rights or privacy" is actually the old-fogey position. Teens sending each other stuff on Snapchat, for example, are most likely not OK with their streams being inspected from the outside. In fact, I do believe they even care which one of their friends gets what message.
I have seen this point being made several times now, that we simply don't deserve privacy or freedom from surveillance because we're using social media. In my opinion, this is wrong. Just because the data is technically available doesn't mean we're implicitly OK with large organizations gathering it all in one place in order to use it against us.