Robert Scoble "so tired of the privacy advocates"

robert scoble

Robert Scoble is not fond of "How To Anonymize Everything You Do Online", an article published today at Wired.

I'm so tired of the privacy advocates.

Me? I'm the other way. All in.

Why? It greatly improves my life by NOT being so damn private about everything I do online.

We are seeing a new digital divide. Two groups of people. Some all out. Some all in. Even better ads. Over at Barb Bowman she's arguing that we should turn off Facebook's tracking of ads. I totally disagree, those trackers make newsfeed filtering work better and potentially could help bring me better ads, which improves my life.

I know that being all in brings major benefits. Jobs. Friends. Music. And more.

So, what about you? Are you all in or all out or somewhere in between?

Oh, and I'm trying to get the new Facebook Slingshot app, just released today, and I can't. I guess a few other people are in the "heck with privacy" crew.

This comes in the wake of Facebook, after years of promising otherwise, coming clean about plans to use "Like" buttons to track web users' browsing history and online behavior. To heck with privacy!

Now, yes, it's understandable why a wealthy white fellow–one famous for attention-seeking stunts such as promoting Google Glass while his hands are otherwise occupied in the shower–doesn't understand why some people want to remain private, even if it costs them the ability to see life-improving Facebook advertisements. There is no-one more desperate to be less obscure than Robert Scoble.

But complaining about an article which merely shows interested people how to keep their privacy? That's another thing entirely, especially when he explicitly describes the exclusion of those who opt out. His is simply an empathy deficit, defined from the outset in terms of how other people's needs make him feel tired, like an infant bored with a toy.