The real reason no one wants to solve the Privacy problem
by Peter
It’s all about the “Benjamin’s” . Here’s a simple graphics that says it all…
The guy on the left represents the Mobile OS manufacturers. In exchange for “free” they want access to your privacy so they can sell more ads. They’ve invested an incredible amount of money in infrastructure to support you. And as the old saying goes “pie is not free at the truck stop”. Someone has to pay for all this “stuff”.
So whose the guy on the right? Well right now he’s the Enterprise user and he’s got a real problem. The lack of consistent privacy controls across devices prohibits them from extending their Web strategy to Mobile users. Lots of people are now bringing their own devices to work (BYOD) and corporations are looking for ways to integrate their current Web services with those devices. The problem – the current Mobile browsers (with the exception of RIM, Opera and Mozilla) don’t allow for plugins that could be used to increase privacy.
So why not switch to the alternate browsers? Well RIM means a Blackberry, Opera means everything goes through their servers in Norway. Which leaves Mozilla – it supports plugins but there aren’t any that increase privacy. And there’s no developers building anything for them. (Because the current browsers that come with the device are “good enough”).
Which if you think about it leaves a huge opportunity open to someone enterprising enough (pun intended) to build a new browser, one that gives you a Choice in what can be shared and with whom.
PS. The W3C solution is just a guideline and offers no complete solution. As for “self-regulation”, well everyone agrees that doesn’t work unless there’s an incentive.
So there you have it – there’s no financial incentive to solve the Privacy problem – simply because there’s too much money in NOT solving it. As for the Enterprise – therein lies the opportunity.