Resolving the privacy paradox

The so-called “privacy paradox” states that people say they value their privacy while acting in ways that don't reflect this stated preference, such as using services that collect and monetize their data. DuckDuckGo is often held out as an example in this way: DuckDuckGo has small search marketshare relative to Google; therefore, people have a revealed preference that they really don’t value their privacy.

I believe there are two flaws with this view that I’ll expand on below:

DuckDuckGo is a bad example because of particulars in the search market; Apple’s “Allow App to Track” dialog (depicted below) is a much better example that in fact shows a clear revealed preference for privacy.

People sit on a continuum of privacy preferences, such that it is way too simplistic to imply nearly everyone is on one side or the other. Gross generalizations about privacy should be avoided.

The latest U.S. data from the Business of Apps shows an opt-in (allow tracking) rate on Apple’s dialog of 25%, indicating a 75% strong revealed preference for privacy. This 25% allow-tracking rate is higher than the original 5-10% rates reported when the dialog first came out because both users have had years to get used to it and apps have had years to change their UIs around. Apps now often present users with the best reasons to allow tracking, usually presented right before users see the dialog, and they can customize the explanation text in the dialog itself (see below for examples). That is, I don’t think you can legitimately say anymore that people don’t understand the dialog or the privacy tradeoffs involved; the 25% steady state is the real preference.

But, how do you reconcile this 75% choice for privacy with DuckDuckGo’s 3% search marketshare? The short version is most people are actually still unaware of DuckDuckGo and, for those that are and want to make the switch, many still find it difficult or impossible to do so across all platforms and devices because, unlike with the Appl…